


Divergent

by Caddyonherway



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Implied Relationships, M/M, Post - Blood of Olypmus, Trio Friendship - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-04
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-02-28 04:31:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2718863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caddyonherway/pseuds/Caddyonherway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo is suffering,<br/>Nico is hiding something,<br/>And Jason is just confused.<br/>----------------------<br/>As Nico looked up, Jason was prepared for anything. Anger, sorrow, desperation. What he was not prepared for was the overall prominent look of pure horror on Nico's face.<br/>For a moment, they stared at each other, Nico wide eyed and obviously struggling with himself, Jason too surprised to say anything.<br/>Then Nico took a step back and whispered hoarsely “No. I can't”<br/>----------------------</p>
<p>All colour was drained from Leo's cheeks as the logical consequence of his own thoughts and questions hit him like a train on full speed. He stared down at Connor, shivering from head to toe. And somewhere in the back of his mind, a conversation found it's way back into his thoughts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone.
> 
> First attempt to seriously write something in English and at the same time, first story that is multi-chaptered. Written as a christmas special for two of my friends.  
> English isn't my first language, so if you find mistakes, feel free to correct me, I still need to learn.

Chapter One

The knock on the door was heavy and made Jason flinch.   
No answer came from inside, the heavy wooden door of Bunker 9 didn’t move an inch. Piper sighed, her right hand still hanging in the air, ready for another bang. “Leo?” she yelled, tightening her grip around Jason’s hand a bit. “A certain son of Hephaestus? Darling, it’s been twelve weeks. Please, let us help you through…”   
Again, there was nothing and Piper looked up at her boyfriend. “Why isn’t he responding? He is in there, isn’t he? “ Jason shrugged, looking back at the door. “Connor said so. Hey Leo? LEO?”  
“Did he talk to you about…?” Jason bit his lip and shook his head in response.

No, Leo hadn’t talked to him after the break-up with Calypso, and Jason still wasn’t sure if he was glad or if he was disappointed about the fact that his best friend didn't seem to trust him enough to spill his guts.  
Jason wasn’t a big fan of awkward situations, especially if they involved talking about feelings. He came to the conclusion that he was quite the oblivious person when it came to this topic, and so it wasn’t really a good idea to come to him for advice. Sure, he was Leo’s best friend (at least he considered himself to be), but he knew that it was a better thing to consult Piper when you needed serious assistance with your immediate relationship problems. But the days passed on and Leo hadn’t talked to either of them.  
“Maybe we should leave him alone? Give him some space or something?”   
Piper shook her head. “Jason, seriously, twelve weeks? How many times have you seen him since? Do you know if he’s eating? Do you know what he’s doing?” She turned to the door again, a determined look on her face and her voice held the unmistakeable trace of charmspeak. “Leo Valdez. You are stopping whatever you are doing right now and you are going to open that freaking door. And I'm talking about now. Move!”

For a moment Jason thought that it might not have worked, but then the lock clicked and the door opened slightly.  
Leo peered through the gap, looking not a bit amused about being ordered to finally leave his 'castle of loneliness'. However, Piper didn't seem to be interested in anything the boy in front of them was about to say as he opened his mouth and before he could even speak a single word she had rammed her foot in the small gap. “Open up. Now.”

As Jason followed his girlfriend inside, walking just a few steps behind her and Leo, he had to admit that Piper's former persistence to not back up, had been a good idea this time. The bunker looked terrible.  
Whereas Leo never was one for order and cleanliness, he made sure that didn't extend to his work. Every little tool, every hammer, pliers, screw or nail had it's own place in a very complicated system that still looked like a mess to most people (including Jason), but made perfect sense to Leo. Whenever you asked the son of Hephaestus where to find a thing, he could give you the answer immediately, even if his surroundings looked as if a horde of party ponies just had a messy orgy. Leo mastered the chaos.  
Now it seemed like the chaos had mastered Leo. The bunker looked badly neglected. Tools were lying everywhere, on the shelves, the work benches, the floor. But in a break from tradition, most of them looked like Leo hadn't touched them in weeks. Wires and screws were hidden in half opened packages and every so often you could see a half finished project under a pile of clothes, as if Leo had tried to distract himself with work but gave up after a while.  
Clothes were everywhere as well. Jason didn't even know Leo owned that many clothes. Piles of shirts, single socks, bedsheets, everything trashed together to form literally 'mountains'. In the left corner was the old mattress Leo occasionally used for sleeping when he worked extra hours. Now it seemed to be his daily bed. It was dirty, the sheets needed to be washed badly and a slightly damp smell filled the room.

But worst of all was his best friend himself.  
Leo looked utterly dreadful. Jason tried to remember when the last time was, that he'd seen him. Was it two weeks ago? Three? He couldn't remember. But he was sure Leo hadn't looked like that, hadn't he?  
His hair was longer, grown out in locks that spilled messily over his head. It looked filthy, like it hadn't been washed for days, and was held back by a headband, which -after a fashion- did the job. His eyes were circled with dark shadows that would put Nico to shame, even in his worst times. Every little spark of life, every usual hint of mischief to be made was lost and cleared space for a settled look of resignation.   
Leo leaned back against one of his shelves, completely ignoring the half made tin car that fell to the floor, and crossed his arms, as if he wanted to protect himself from whatever was coming. “So...hello?” Even his voice seemed to be drained out of energy, like a crackling leave in November. It sounded rusty and Jason was sure he hadn't used it a lot in the last days. 

“Leo...”, Piper scanned the room, mouth open and obviously trying to comprehend what she was seeing. “...what happened to this place? What happened to you?”  
“I don't know what you mean.”  
“Come on, Leo, don't try me. Have you looked into mirror lately?”  
Jason stepped next to Piper, silently watching his best friend shift from one foot to another. Leo's voice was defensive as he answered. “I don't know what you mean. I decided to wear my hair a bit longer now, so what? Many celebrities do it. It's fashion, Piper, you know? And why do you even care? It's not like it has something to do with you.”  
Jason flinched again, watching Leo taking a step backwards. It was painfully clear that the younger demigod tried to push them away, play down the obviously ongoing downfall. This was so unlike Leo that it kinda hurt. Normally, he would laugh, crack a joke about how he would try to look different to gain attention from the ladies or ask Piper since when she would give a damn about someone's appearance.   
But something seemed to have been destroyed inside Leo. He lacked anything that had once made him himself. Jason never would have thought that a girl, a single break up, would crack his best friend, Leo, who sacrificed himself for his friends. His friends, well, and said girl. Jason pitied him.

Piper on the other hand obviously didn't.   
-Slap-  
Jason's eyes widened in shock as he watched his girlfriend slam her small hand square over Leo's right cheek. The boy stumbled backwards, hand pressed against the wounded skin. Piper looked like she would hit Leo again if he said another word and she reminded Jason much more of the girl who jumped fearless in a circle of giants, attacking them with nothing more than a sword, than of his usually sweet and calming girlfriend. Instinctively he took a step back, like he was scared to be slapped as well.  
Piper's eyes sparkled with anger and her voice didn't even need charmspeak now. “Leo Valdez. I swear on the river Styx if I EVER hear the words 'Why do you even care' out of your mouth, I am going to end you! Why do you think we care? We are your friends. Jason and I, we are your best friends. We have gone through a lot of things together. We fought together, we sailed half across the world with you...”  
“I know that you are...”  
“No you shut up now, Valdez. We saw you blasting yourself over the freaking sky to kill Gaea. To make it clear: We saw you die. Can you imagine how it is to see your best friend die? Blasting into pieces? Can you imagine how we felt , having the cure at hand that could save you and being totally useless...”  
“But you hadn't...”  
“IT'S NOT THE POINT that the cure wasn't real, Leo. I didn't know it back then. You were dead. We saw you dying.”  
Leo shifted uncomfortably. “I wasn't really dead.”

For a second, Jason thought Piper would slap Leo again. She seemed under such tension that Jason had to admire the fact her voice was still so much under control.  
“You seem to be missing the point here. You weren't dead, fine, but you were dead to us. We couldn't possibly know you were floating above some island. Jason even had gone to ask Nico if you were still alive, right?”  
She turned to him, and Jason, taken aback by the fact that he suddenly was expected to be an active part in that whole conversation, could do nothing more than nod silently.  
“See, we were absolutely positive that you were dead, and Leo, we grieved you. We lost you and we couldn't even bury you. Do you know that feeling?”  
Now Leo looked a bit sickened as he slightly shook his head, held in place by Piper's fierce gaze like a deer in headlight.  
“And we believed in you. We met up every night and told stories about you, discussed what you could be doing now, somewhere, because we wouldn't accept the fact that you died. And we won. You came back, after everybody already thought we were nuts, with Calypso behind you, looking like you just had a holiday on the Bahamas.”  
Leo smiled tiredly. “Actually, it was Hawaii...”  
“The point is, Leo Valdez... “ and now Piper's voice hardened even more, but the anger was drained out of it. Instead it sounded like an order, a war declaration. “... I am not loosing you again. I will not sit back and watch while you hide yourself in that bunker, pushing everything and everyone away. Hell, if it wasn't for Connor, I wouldn't have known that you're still alive. I do not know how he came in, but Zeus knows about Hermes children and their ways. Whatever, I am tired of knocking against this door, knowing you are here but not getting an answer. I am tired of not seeing you at the campfire or the meals. Hades knows, I am even tired of not getting interrupted by your stupid machines while playing 'Capture the flag'. You are not alone, and she was not your life, however precious she may have been to you. I haven't lost you death itself, Leo, and I will certainly not lose you to a stupid girl.”

For a few seconds the tension in the room was so thick, that Jason was positively sure he could cut it with a knife. A little spark seemed to be enough to make Leo explode. He had straightened his back, opened his mouth and looked ready to strangle Piper right on the spot.  
Then all remaining energy seemed to leave Leo at once. He slumped back against the table and sank down to the ground. “You're right...” he mumbled. “Gods, you're right.”  
Jason lunched forward to comfort him, but Piper held him back. “Yes I am. And now we are leaving. Get yourself together, Leo. I expect you to clean up this mess, clean up yourself and be at the campfire tonight, do you understand?”

Leo just nodded and Jason threw him an apologetic look over his shoulder while he was dragged out of the bunker by Piper. After the door closed, he turned to her, raising his eyebrows in question. “Why are we leaving him like this?”  
“Because he needs to come to terms with himself.” She met his questioning look and sighed. “Don't worry Jason, he'll be fine. “ She started walking, expecting him to follow. “He had locked himself away for a long while, I guess he needs to climb out of his self-made prison by himself. He just needed a little push.”   
Suddenly she smirked. “And he's not alone. I am pretty sure I saw Connor Stoll lurking in the shadows behind. If I didn't know better I'd guess he had stolen Nico's shadow travelling ability. I don't think Leo knew that he was there.”

“Connor Stoll? Well. They have become friends lately, haven't they?”  
He just turned in time to saw a strange look cross her face, something between amusement and pity. “Friends? Yes. Yes they have.” She reached out for his hand. “A walk through the woods?”  
“Yeah. Why not?”


	2. Chapter Two

It was still early morning, the sunlight barely illuminating the way as Jason and Piper wandered through the woods. Drops of dew were still resting on the grass, dropping down and getting lost in their clothes, as they strolled through it in silence.

Jason liked the fact that Piper knew when to be quiet. Some moments shouldn't be interrupted by talking, especially not those when you are somewhere peaceful, where nature hasn't noticed you.  
Light fell through the tree branches, birds where singing somewhere above them and far in the distant was the sound of something small digging it's way through the underwood.  
They moved in unison, side by side, shoulders slightly touching. Jason wasn't a poet in any way, he wasn't an Apollo son and his way with words was poorly, even in his own mind, but this moment with Piper was perfect. They understood each other without speaking.  
Jason always thought that Piper was special, different from other people. She was pretty, definitely, but that wasn't the point. She was the most loyal and trustworthy companion someone could wish for and his best friend. Well, technically Leo was his best friend,too, but he was different from Piper. She always seemed to understand Jason's feelings before himself and she always knew the right way to handle them. She was as solid as a rock as soon as she notices some of her friends are in trouble and you could always rely on her. Altogether she was so very important to Jason that he didn't know he could ever express this feeling to her without sounding awkward.

The moment passed, the magic was gone and after a while Piper started to talk.  
“He really has changed. I know I shouldn't, but I am a little bit mad at Calypso for making him like that.”  
Jason didn't answer. He just kept strolling along the path down to the strawberry fields, his head hanging down slightly. Piper sighed.  
“But it's not really her fault. We all changed.”  
“Did we?” Jason lifted his head and threw her an apologizing look. “Sorry, that was a dumb question. Of course we have.” His voice had a trace of bitterness as he added. “War changes everybody.”

She met his gaze and shook her head slightly.  
“That's not what I meant. Well, it is true, but it's not just the war. We changed a lot. Sometimes I feel like... you know like through the war I had like four years in one. Like I need to be much older than I am. You know I visited Dad last month, do you?”  
Jason nodded, kicking a stone in the middle of the path. “Yeah.”  
“It was nice. I met a few kids my age but... I didn't know how to talk to them. They're all so... carefree. They do not think about a future and next to them I feel like an old overprotective grandmother. I couldn't help, I kept looking at them thinking 'How could you discuss something so trivial as boybands or theatre shows when your earth nearly was destroyed a few month ago? This can't be normal.'”  
She suddenly stopped and looked up to the treetops.  
“But then I realized that it is normal. It's me who isn't. I am older, I seek protection, safety. A normal life, without knowing what it is, 'cause I never really had a normal teenage life. I feel so old. Do you understand?”

Yes, he understood perfectly. But he couldn't completely relate to what she was saying, because this feeling had been his before he started the whole war against Gaea.  
Jason's thoughts drifted back to the time when he was still praetor, fighting side by side with Reyna, leading his cohort and making decisions that altered fate and fortune of Camp Jupiter.  
Yes, back then he felt old. Like someone had put a sack of stones on his back, adding one more for every day in his life. It was a burden, but he was determined to bear it.  
He wasn't happy back then, he realized long ago.  
But it had changed since the war was over. It was like he was getting younger again, day by day. He made new friends, friends who knew how he really was, friends like Piper, in which front he did not need to pretend and could just be like he was.

He didn't answer and after a few seconds of silence, Piper started to walk again.  
“Tell me about your plans.”  
“My what?”  
“Your plans for the future. What are you wishing for?”

Jason furrowed his brow. Now that he actively thought of it, he didn't have a clue. His plans for the future? He had no idea. He had thought about the future so hard and so often in the past few years that he just liked the idea of living in the present. Going by the wind. Maybe travelling? Visiting new places, meeting new people, see the world?  
“I... I do not know. “ he answered honestly. “I do not think about it that much. Tell me about yours?”

She smiled. “I'd like to stay here in Camp Halfblood. You know, Annabeth is thinking about building a city nearby? Like New Rome? She is making plans already, studying with Percy there, and she wants so realize it when they come back. I thought about following her path...”  
Jason's eyebrows rose. “Building a city?”  
“No, idiot. Studying. I... “ she looked on the ground for a moment, following a tiny mouse crossing the path in front of them. “...I thought about becoming a teacher. They will need teachers here, at a University. Imagine that, Jason, a city like New Rome, here. With a school, and a university. Demigods do not have to be scared anymore, they can live here as long as they wish, making a degree, building a house and a family. Nobody will have to run away anymore...” Her eyes became distant for a second. “...or have to be ashamed of their powers.”

Jason watched his girlfriends face and realized one more time that he really wasn't an observant person. He never thought that Piper would make future plans so detailed and it hadn't even crossed his mind that she was not happy as things were right now.  
He chuckled. “I can picture you as a teacher, really, you would be amazing. But I would not want to be your student. Imagine how you terrorize them with your charmspeak, make them say embarrassing things if they play practical jokes on you.”  
She laughed. “Yeah, nobody would dare. But funny, Nico said nearly the exact same thing to me when we met earlier.”  
“Nico?”  
“Yeah, he's back from New Rome. I met him this morning on the way to your cabin. I already forgot when I came there, my mind was so fixated on Leo.”

As she looked up, directly into Jason's eager face, something covered her eyes again. An emotion Jason couldn't place, almost like the one she wore when they left the bunker. Then the look was gone and she poked him in the chest.  
“Hush, go. I am sorry that I haven't told you earlier. I know you missed him, go see him. If you're fast enough you'll catch him before breakfast.”  
“But...”  
She shooed him away, laughing. “I said go, or do I have to charmspeak you?”

She did not have to.  
Jason smiled to her, then turned on the spot and sprinted through the woods. He nearly flew over the strawberry fields, ignoring shouts from Demeter campers who were already awake. Breakfast would start in about half an hour, so Nico would most likely be in his cabin.  
He took the way to the left, leading to the cabins with higher numbers, passed the Hermes cabin and stopped. 

Hades' cabin, solid and entirely black, stood before him. The outer appearance of the cabin had not changed, it was still windowless, build with walls of solid obsidian. Two torches filled with Greek fire illuminated the doorway day and night and a skull hung over the cabin's door, staring down at visitors as if it was daring them to enter.  
The door was ajar and a little ray of flickering light fell on the ground before Jason's feet. He smirked.  
He had to be careful, Nico was always so very observant. He pushed the door open and peered inside. On the contrary of his outsides, the inside of Hades' cabin had changed a lot over the past few month. The white marble floor stood in sharp contrast to the dark walls. The coffin shaped beds were gone, instead there were just two large beds on either side of the walls. They were very low and in the style of futons, possibly because Nico enjoyed staying near ground level.  
The left side of the cabin was over all decorated with pictures, like Nico was trying to establish a wallpaper out of photos. Most of them showed Hazel in various situations, taken most likely by Nico himself on visits in Camp Jupiter. From his position, Jason could see pictures of Reyna, Annabeth and Percy, Will, Piper laughing and, his heart made a happy twist, himself. Between all of this were drawings of different people, again mostly Hazel, and landscapes.  
The photos ended behind a enormous closet, build out of dark wood, but with a silver decoration in form of a cypress tree painted on it. When he first visited the cabin, Jason had asked Nico about the cypress, as it was normally an Artemis attribute, but Nico had stayed silent.  
In the right corner of the cabin, in a round hole filled with earth within the marble floor stood a small Pomegranate tree. It had been a gift from Persephone, Nico told him, and he seemed both, confused and honoured about the fact that she had given it to him, so he insisted of planting it inside the cabin instead of somewhere on the grounds. 

Next to the tree was now said demigod himself, sitting in front of his large travel bag and throwing clothes on the bed.  
Jason slipped through the door quietly and leaned against the wall, a slow grin crossing his face. “Not saying 'hello' to old friends?”

Several things happened at once.  
At first, within a blink of an eye, Nico was gone before the last shirt he had thrown even landed on the bed. Then something hit Jason from behind, like it came out of the wall itself. He stumbled forward, but a pale arm pulled him back.  
Jason instincts kicked in and without really thinking about it he turned and lunged forward, but his attacker decided to change his move in the same moment and so he ended up falling backwards, being pressed against the floor with a long, black sword against his throat.  
Staring up into Nico' s shocked eyes he laughed.  
“Well, that is certainly a 'hello'.”


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the third chapter and again, it has no beta, so forgive the grammar ord word mistakes.  
> Hope you enjoy anyways

„Jason!“  
Nico exhaled and leaned back, still sitting on top of Jason's hips. “Hades, you can't just come in and scare the shit out of people.”  
“Well, I am not accustomed to people attacking visitors.”   
“You could have been an attacking enemy!”   
“In your cabin?”  
They went silent and Nico stood up, brushing the dust off his trousers. He threw an angry look at Jason, who was still sitting on the ground with a wide smile splitting his face nearly in half. Nico's eyebrows rose. “What?”  
“Welcome home.”

There was moment of silence, then Jason scrambled to his feet again while Nico hastily turned his attention to his bag, mumbling a nearly inaudible 'thank you'.   
Jason let himself fall on the bed, right between the pile of clothes that found their way up there. He was already used to this place, usually sitting here when visiting Nico in his cabin almost every day for the past few month. He had to admit he really missed their small meetings and little talks between the rush of camp life and managing the new established peace between both camps. Nico being gone for the past few weeks had ripped that calming daily routine out of Jason's life, and he just now realized how much he regretted it's absent.

“How was your journey?” he asked while ducking his head to avoid getting another shirt in the face. “You know, I would appreciate to not get hit with your laundry.”  
“Quiet. And you would not if you'd stop sitting on my bed and stealing my time with stupid small talk. Don't you have something better to do? Go out with your girlfriend? Molesting Valdez?”  
“First of all, I do not molest Leo. If there is someone molesting here, it's definitely him. Second, I was out with Piper this morning on a walk. She was actually the one who told me that you're here instead of running through the woods and screaming my name, I am truly and deeply hurt, Nico.”  
Nico made a disproving sound.  
“And coming to the main question: If Piper told me that she saw you when she went for me before our walk and you are now here, unpacking your bag and when I assume you were not running through the wood screaming for your dear friend, which is me by the way...”  
“Grace, your point? Hades, you spent too much time with Valdez, you already sound like hi...”  
“Where have you been all morning?”

Nico stopped mid-sentenced and blinked.   
Jason's smile grew wider. “See, I am not dumb. I know you're here for a while, but you obviously haven't been in your cabin. So?”  
Nico's face darkened. “I do not have to report to you what I am doing!”  
He turned and walked over to the bathroom door. Jason tip toed after him with a gleeful expression. “So, let me just guess. You 'may' have met a certain son of Apollo?”

Nico's neck, the only part of him that Jason could see from his position, went slowly scarlet. Jason laughed. “Yes! I knew it. So, you met him? Are you two like...”  
“NO.”  
“But I saw how he looked at you. He likes you Nico!”  
“I prefer not to talk about it.”  
“Oh, come on. We're friends. I know that Will...”  
“Jason!”  
“You can't tell me you only went to his cabin for 'medical questions'.Like what? 'Hello Will, please tell me if I am in love or if my stomach just aches. “

Jason knew instantly that this had been a bit too much. Nico froze in front of him, straightened his back like an animal ready for attack. If there is one thing that Jason did not wish to become acquainted with, it was standing on the wrong side when anger hits the Hades son. He raised his hands, ready to apologize instantly, but the look on Nico's face stopped him.

Instead of the expected look of anger, Nico wore an expression of pure exhaustion and hurt. Jason backed up almost instinctive, lowering his hands again.   
Nico's voice sounded drained and tired.   
“Please Jason, could we talk about something else?”

Jason wasn't quite sure what to say, so he just sat down on the bed again and watched Nico unpacking the rest of his stuff. “Breakfast starts in fifteen minutes. We could make it, don't you think.” He seized Nico's body. “...couldn't hurt.”  
Nico just shrugged. “I am not exactly hungry you k...”, “Appetite come with eating!”  
The other demigod sighed. “Fine. You're probably right. Just wait until I found my shoes.”

 

Breakfast was loud and always very entertaining. It was the second day of spring break, and so most of the campers had come for a visit. People who stayed there all year were happy to meet their friends again and the chattering were even louder than usually.   
The table system had been replaced and Jason and Nico had found one a little bit to the left, where the crowd wasn't so thick. Piper had joined them and while Jason mostly was occupied with stuffing loads of cereals at once into his mouth, she had started a conversation with Nico about the past few weeks. 

Jason stopped, spoon still hanging mid-air and watched his girlfriend and his... his... yeah what was Nico. He was a friend, sure, a dear friend and in some ways he knew more about Jason than Piper or Leo did. No, that was not entirely correct. Nico was not his best friend. He was different from his best friend because he knew things of Jason that he wouldn't... that he couldn't tell Leo or Piper.   
Nico knew that he still had trouble trusting people sincerely.   
Nico knew that he felt remorse about not missing New Rome as much as he should.  
Nico knew that Jason did not want to make plans for the future and just live the day.

He lowered his gaze to the cereals. Today, in the middle of the woods, he had realized for the first time that having a relationship means, you had to make future plans that fit each others. Piper wants to become a teacher. Jason had not have the time to think about this fact until now, because he was so eager to see Nico after he was gone so long but now, sitting at the breakfast table in the loud dining pavilion, full of young, carefree demigods he thought about what she said to him. Building a city for them. Providing shelter, protection and safety for all ages.  
It could be like New Rome.   
No, it would be like New Rome.

It would not be the first time that Jason pictured himself in a society like this. He tried to imagine his life, with Piper in the new city. He was positively sure that she would be a teacher because face it, whatever Piper really wants to archive will happen. She was a role model of a strong and independent woman. Sometime Jason thought she would be the perfect poster girl for an feminism campaign. Maybe alongside Reyna and Annabeth.  
He smiled weakly. She would be an awesome teacher. They would live in a house in the city centre, he would work in politics, helping to manage and secure the city, make life better there. Maybe they would have children some day?  
It would be like New Rome. It would be a nice life. It would be...

His thoughts were interrupted by laughter. Piper had thrown her head back, long chocolate brown hair fell out of her face and revealed her warm laugh about something Nico just had told. Jason always liked Pipers laugh, because it was so sincere and open. Her eyes were shut tight and one of her hands shot upwards to cover her mouth and muffle the sound a bit.  
Inadvertently Jason's gaze drifted to Nico. The younger demigod smiled as well, but it was a small smile and more of a grin. Nevertheless it seemed to light up his whole face, reaching the eyes and make them shine with something Jason hadn't seen often in his face. Nico's whole body was straight now, his hands were animated waving around in front of Piper, actively supporting whatever he was telling her.   
Jason felt like he had never seen him so laid back and relaxed while talking to someone. Sure, he had seen this 'Italian tick' like Nico called it before, but mostly when they were alone and only when Nico had to outline a tough point in his arguments. Seeing him doing it in front Piper made Jason happy and, at the same time, a little bit disappointed. Like someone had took a privilege from him.  
He shook his had. What a stupid idea. Nico wasn't his privilege, nor was something that he was doing. It was good if he finally decided to open up to people a bit more, especially to Piper, who was the perfect person for that.

“Jason?”  
Jason opened his eyes again and looked in two questioning faces. He felt the temperature in his cheeks slowly going upwards and cursed himself for blushing in this situation.   
It seems like they had stopped their conversation while he was deep in thoughts and asked him something. Jason did not have a clue what it was. Caught like a deer in the headlights he stared into their eyes, Nico's just questioning, Piper's with a certain trace of... was that suspicion?  
“Yes?”

Piper grinned. “Stop spacing out. Nico asked if we would like to see the new sword fight technique he had developed with Hazel. He wants to teach me. You wanna come?”  
“Sure.”  
“Good, then stop staring into space and finish your cereals, so we can go.”


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo gets a haircut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you could see this is already the next chapter and one more will follow tonight because I wrote a few at once. As always: no beta and possibly full of mistakes.  
> Hope you'll enjoy.

Chapter Four

It had took Leo roughly half an hour to stop staring into space and get up from his spot on the floor. His legs were shaky and he needed to steady himself, holding onto the table.  
He took a deep breath and let his gaze wander around the room, for the first time in weeks actually 'seeing' it. Piper was right, it was a mess. He was a mess.  
A sad grin crossed his face. Aunt Rosa would love to see him like this. She had always said he'd end up like this, a piece of dirt that belonged nowhere. But she was wrong. He had friends that cared for him, friends who would drag him out of every bad situation, even if he brought it onto himself.

Leo grabbed one of the plastic bags and started to clean off the table, but stopped in the middle of the task. No, wrong order. If he wanted to start completely new, he would have to clean up himself first.  
He searched around his pile of clothes for something that did not stink or was full of grease, picked out a pair of semi-fresh boxers and growled frustrated. Gladly, there was a almost clean towel he could use, but except that everything seemed to be in an unacceptable condition. He shoved the pile of clothes together angrily and stuffed them in the big industrial washing machine, normally used to wash the sails of the Argo.  
There goes his plan to shower in his cabin. Thankfully there was a small shower build in the back of the bunker, but usually Leo avoided showering there, because the water was always going from absolutely fucking hot to Alaska temperatures. But on the other hand, he really had no intention walking around the camp in his current state and maybe showering here was a better idea anyway.

He quickly undressed and threw his clothes to the other ones in the machine, pressing the start button. Then he grabbed the towel and the boxers and made his way to the shower section. A look in the mirror made him wince.  
His face looked hollow and why he bragged in front of Piper that his hair was simply his new way of style, it was painfully obvious how much he needed a haircut. In Leo's own opinion, he looked like dirty little sheep.  
The water was burning hot, but Leo didn't really feel the heat anyway, so what. As long as it did not choose to ice him the next second this was fine with him. He washed the dirt and sweat of the past few days from his body and sighed. He was really glad that Piper used her charmspeak this time, he had needed that push quite obviously. Actually it would have been better if she and Jason had come earlier to drag him out of his own cave, but other had tried and it had not worked, so maybe it just had been the right moment. 

His mind started to wander against his will,to the past few month and back to her. He should have known how this would end from the very start and maybe he had. But the time they spend, the fact that he fought and overruled death for her and brought her back from this stupid cursed island, had lured him into thinking this could actually work.  
They could work.

His fist crashed against the wall and he felt his knuckled split. Good. Let it hurt.  
It could not hurt enough, could never be enough to make him forget this conversation.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Leo. We have to talk...”  
They sat at the lake of the camp, feet dangling in the mild water and watching the naiads mocking each other over their new hair styles. She had been quite the whole time and he was content, just enjoying her presence.  
Now, he turned his head to her beautiful face, again admiring her features. Her almond shaped eyes were lowered, watching her nervously twitching fingers and wisps of her caramel hair fell into her face as she turned it to look at him as well.  
He smiled, cracking a joke as always. “What? Bored again? You know we have seen Hawaii, New York, Chicago and Camp Jupiter by now, but hey, there is so much more. Have you ever seen snow? Or Texas? We could visit Houston, I was born there...”  
“Leo.”  
Her voice was more like a whisper, but enough to make him stop. She sounded so... sad. Sad while she shouldn't be, there was absolutely no reason for being sad, was there?  
A regretful smile matched her look as she took a deep breath. “I want you to know that I am so very, very grateful that you showed me all this. That you got me down the island. I am so very grateful for, well, this.” She made a gesture with her arm that includes their surroundings.  
“It really was wonderful. It is. This whole world is new to me, so many possibilities I never even thought of. It is like someone opened a cage for a bird and it took off. Sure, the bird saw what was outside the cage and wanted it, but only as it was released it could fly anywhere and see what more there is to the world. This is what you did to me and there is nothing I could say, nothing I could do to thank you enough for it.”  
He smiled at her and gave her a wink. “I thought we were past that. But if you insist of repaying me I am sure well will find a way that is suita...”

“I am not in love with you, Leo.”

It was like someone poured ice cold water over his head. “W...What?”  
She looked at him with so much pity in her eyes that he wanted to shake her, wanted to make that look go away, wanted to shake the words that she just said away and make them disappear, like she had never even spit them out Surely she didn't mean them? Maybe this was some sort of joke he didn't understand.  
“I am so sorry. I just thought it would be unfair to pretend... because I know... because I can see that you love me...and you deserve someone who truly loves you Leo. For yourself, not just for what you did to them. And I...can't.”  
“But... what about Leo and Calypso’s Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters?“

She just kept looking at him with that same, mournful look in her eyes, as if she was about to break something precious.  
“I am so, so sorry.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The water was really icy by now, streaming down his side. Leo had his head rested against the door and for the first time in weeks, he gave in to his desperation. The tears streamed down his face as he sobbed, promptly being washed away by the water.

It took him another five minutes to completely calm down again, stepping out of the shower and drying himself. His eyes were puffy and red from crying, but he felt lighter, like something heavy had been taken from his chest and he could finally breathe again.  
He put on his boxers and rubbed his hair dry while wandering through the bunker, thinking about where he should start his cleaning mission.

“You could catch a cold, you know?”

Leo jumped. Next to him, leaning against the mainstay was Connor Stoll. He smiled at Leo, who suddenly felt very exposed.  
“Connor, what are you doing here?”  
Always the same question. It wasn't the first time that Connor came here. He was a regular visitor in the small amount of time that Leo had build the Argo with the help of his siblings here. After he returned to camp for the two blissful weeks with Calypso at his side, Connor had been in the bunker more often then Leo himself.  
And he also had been the first one to visit him after the break up.  
Leo remembered how he appeared out of the shadows for the first time, roughly two weeks after Calypso had left. At first he had thought it was Nico, 'cause he was sure no one could enter the bunker without him knowing it, if not for an ability like shadow travelling, but who knows the way of those sneaky Hermes children?  
Leo had asked him the exact same question he had asked right now and the answer was the same on every following visit. And he visited quite often, almost daily.

“To look after you.”  
Connor took the towel from Leo's head and grinned. “I see, you took a shower. Couldn't stand your own smell anymore or did someone finally talked a bit of sense into your head and was more successful with it than I was?”  
Angrily Leo tried to grabbed the towel, but it seemed to magically disappear behind Connors back. “I do not have to give account to you, do I? Now give this back.”

Connor looked at him, then pulled out the cloth behind his back and threw it in Leo's face. He turned, and dragged one of the chairs in the middle of the room. Leo watched him rumouring through his equipment and said nothing. For the passing minute there was a sickening silence, only interrupted by the sounds of the washing machine. Leo held the towel in front of him, trying to cover as much naked skin as possible. Even if Connor was a friend, also a male one, Leo felt uneasy standing there in his boxers, a feeling he did not know from previous encounters with friends like Jason or Frank. Also, he suspected that Connor was there for a while and must have hear him crying in the shower and, even if not, his still red eyes may have given him away.

Finally Connor seemed to have found what he was searching for. He held a pair of scissors and turned to face Leo. “Sit down.”  
“What?”  
“Sit down.”  
“Why? What do you need those scissors for?”  
“To murder you in cold blood, I thought this was quite obvious, stupid.” Connor rolled his eyes. “Seriously Leo, you need a haircut.”

Leo stared at his friend baffled. “I am not getting a haircut from you.”  
“Well, quite obviously you are, or do you see anyone else around who is offering.” He bowed in front of Leo in an exaggerated courtesy. “Coiffure Stoll, at your service. Today extra discount for desperate and dirty demigods.”  
Leo just kept staring at him until Connor rolled his eyes again. “Oh come on. You really need a hair cut and I am not bad at cutting hair. Been doing Travis' hair for ages.”  
“Isn't he the older one?”  
“Doesn't mean he's better at haircutting, does it?”

Sighing again, Leo gave in. What could possibly go wrong. If it would look stupid, he'd just stay in his bunker for another set of weeks, and frankly, he doesn't give a damn anymore. (Here he was, quoting 'Gone with the wind' in his head. How much worse could it be?)  
He walked over and let himself fall on the chair.  
Connor nodded satisfied. “You have no comb in here, so I'll use my hands. Your hair just needs to be shorter on top, and it's curly enough to make that an easy task.”  
Leo just nodded and leaned back.

The hands in his hair were soft, carefully untangling the knots in Leo's messy mop of dark hair and he closed his eyes unintentionally, enjoying the mild pressure the fingers gave on his scalp. Connors voice was reaching his ears, far away, like Leo wasn't really there.  
“Are you planning to clean the bunker?”  
The scissors klicked and Leo felt streaks of his hair falling onto the naked skin of his chest and shoulders.  
“Yes...” he whispered.  
The scissors klicked again and Connors hands moved, parting hair and holding it in place while he cut it. His fingers brushed the tips of Leo's ears and made him shudder, just as he said. “Good thing. I could help?”  
“No need for that...but thank you.”  
“I have no plans for today, so it doesn't matter. May I?”  
“Okay...”

The rest was blissful silence, Connor messing through his hair and cutting it off, Leo leaning into the touches. He always liked hairdressers, he fondly remembered the times when his Mum were still alive and they could actually afford going to one. After that, he had cut it himself or let Piper do it, but she wasn't nearly as soft and slow as Connor was.  
He liked being touched ever so slightly on the neck, his ears. He liked the falling hair and the clipping of the scissors.  
He was so lost in his train of thoughts that he did not realized that Connor has stopped. As Leo opened his eyes, Connor was sitting in front of him, watching him in silence.  
For a few seconds they stared at each other, not saying a word. Connors eyes were blue, not the sky-blue that Jason's eyes possessed and nothing near that blue-green sea colour of Percy's. They were a bit darker, like the colour of cornflowers.

“Should we start?” Connor said hastily, turning away and looking around the room.  
Leo grabbed a mirror and examined his reflection. Connor had made a good job, his hair looked almost like it had before he decided to give a shit about growing it out.  
“Yeah, and... thank you for the haircut.” He smiled, getting up and taking the abandoned plastic bag from the table. “You're a good mate.”  
The washing machine made a beeping sound and Leo hushed over to shut it down.

Connor looked after him.  
“Good mate, uh? Guess I am...”


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason PoV
> 
> Jason watches his girlfriend's training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last one for today.  
> No beta, many mistakes and no sleep for me.
> 
> I promise we're getting to the plot soon. I am building it up but yes, there will be plot.  
> At least there will be a plot attempt.  
> Enjoy :)

Chapter Five

Jason did not know why he had this constantly nagging feeling that this was a very bad idea. 

He was standing at the edge of the arena, leaning casually against the railings and looking down at his girlfriend. A smile swept over his face. He watched Nico talking to Piper, both armed with wooden swords for training, and studied her face from the distance. She was nodding a few times, brows furrowed in deep concentration and the way she was holding herself, straight and proud, made Jason think how much she changed from the day he first met her.

Not much was left of the girl who once felt so useless and powerless, the girl he thought he needed to protect. This Piper doesn't seek protection. Jason was sure that she would go against everything in her way if it was necessary and that she was the one protecting others now. He never thought when they had met that she would once be interested in practising sword fights if not strictly necessary.   
The way she was changing position, ready for Nico to start the fight reminded Jason strongly of Reyna. Now that he came to think of it, Piper and Reyna had a lot in common. Or maybe this was just his mind telling him that girls ready for an epic sword fight were his type?

Nico on the other hand seemed to be utterly relaxed. He swirled the wooden sword in his hand, a tiny smile on his lips as he brought himself in position.  
Jason had seen it before, the change that happen to Nico when he was about to start a fight. Normally, he seemed a bit awkward around people, hiding in the background and disappearing into the mass if possible. On the battlefield however, Nico seemed to burst of confidence. He wasn't a typical leader, more of someone who got the leadership through accident, but making the best of it. Jason watched as he gave the signal and then blocked Piper's first stroke.  
What a great and powerful general Nico could be, if he just felt more comfortable around human beings.  
Living human beings. 

The fight didn't take long. In fact, Nico had Piper on her knees in about two minutes. Jason wasn't surprised about it, even he had problems lasting against Nico in a fight without powers. As small and scrawny as Nico seems to be, he was amazing when it comes to sword-fighting. He may not have as much strength as Jason's blows, but he was incredible fast, even without his shadow travelling, and had reflexes like a cat.

Jason watched as they started for a second, third and fourth time, with Nico teaching Piper how to counter his attacks effectively, as a voice behind him made him jump slightly.  
“Is di Angelo trying to kill her with a wooden stick?”  
Slowly Jason turned around. “Leo?”

His best mate was standing two feet away, looking over to the fighting pair in the middle of the arena and stepping nervously from one foot onto the other one.   
“I... I did not expect you that fa... who cut your hair?” asked Jason, suddenly noticing that Leo's hair looked neatly and clean again.   
“Connor” said Leo, as he let himself fall next to Jason. “So what's with di Angelo?”  
“You know you could start calling him by his first name, you know?”  
“He calls me Valdez as well.”  
“Yeah. Well... he's complicated.”  
“You don't say.” Leo rolled his eyes and Jason laughed.

Sure, Leo was a mess of a best friend. He was most likely to get you in trouble in nine out of ten times and he could be so damn annoying that Jason wants nothing more then to shock him with a high amount of electricity until he shuts up, but sitting beside him throwing snarky comments about 'di Angelo should really watch his ass or Beauty Queen will cut it' made Jason realize how much he really missed his friends.  
Following an impulse he leaned in and slung his arms around Leo.   
“I'm glad you're back.”

For a moment nothing happened, then Leo patted his back awkwardly.  
“Sorry.”  
“For what?”  
“Hiding myself from you. I know you wanted to help. You did in the end.”  
“No, I am sorry.”  
Leo leaned back, looking like a wounded animal. “Can we not...you know...?” Jason nodded quickly. “Yeah, yeah, of course.”

 

“What is this? Finally out of your cave and again on a mission to steal my boyfriend?”  
Nico and Piper had apparently stopped fighting and Piper was coming over to them, looking exhausted but satisfied.   
“Glad you're back on board, Repair Boy. Hope you found the time to watch me fight when you were occupied with cuddling Jason.” she laughed while she flung herself onto Leo, who nearly fell backwards on the grass.   
He grinned as well. “You know I am always looking for you, Beauty Queen, how could I not? I just discussed with Jason what I do to di Angelo's poor ass if he hurts you.”  
Somewhere beyond their back they heard Nico exhale scornfully, but he didn't say anything. 

“Actually” said Leo, getting up and brushing the grass from his trousers, “I wanted to see you. I am thinking about starting a new problem to...” he seemed to lost his voice in the middle of the sentence, trailed of for a moment and started again. “Anyway, I walked around in the camp and asked for any ideas and someone from the Aphrodite cabin came with the idea of building an attire converter.”  
“A what exactly?” Piper asked.  
“An attire converter, didn't you listen? It is an automatic sewing machine with included patterns and dye. Just imagine this: You don't like your clothes anymore? No problem, just put them in the converter, choose one of the pattern that is available for the amount of fabric you put in-”  
“Stop, stop, stop. Leo, you are not building a whatever converter for my cabin.”  
“But -”  
“No.” With this, Piper grabbed the excited demigod by his arm and pushed him upwards. “Now tell me who had brought that stupid idea to your mind? Was it Drew? Or possibly Lacy, for all she cared about appearance instead of learning something useful...”

Jason could hear their bickering all the way over to the cabins. He smiled and turned back to Nico, who seemed to be a tad more uncomfortable than usually around Jason.   
“Is everything alright?”  
Nico jumped and looked like Jason had attacked him out of nowhere. “What?”  
“You look nervous.”  
“It's nothing.”  
Jason followed Nico back to the Armoury where he stowed away the training swords. “Why have you stopped? Was Piper already tired?”  
“No. No, in fact, I underestimated her. She really got a lot better in the last couple of month. I must say I am impressed. She does not seem to be the fighting type.”  
Jason laughed. “Yeah, never underestimate girls. Learned that the hard way a few times.” He scratched his head. “Why have you stopped then?”  
“Does it matter? I just thought it was enough.”

Jason studied Nico's face again. He may, as pointed out quite often today, not be the most observant person running around, but he was not completely dumb. He knew Nico, maybe better than anyone else around, maybe better than anyone absolutely, except for Hazel. The younger boy was avoiding his gaze, constantly trying to have something to do to not look at Jason. It was painfully clear that he was hiding.  
Then something struck Jason, an idea, a theory.  
“She said something to you. Piper. You stopped because of something she said.”

Nico was not quick enough in masking the emotions that crossed his face and Jason knew instantly that he was right.   
“Was it something about...”  
“Don't.”  
Nico looked at him so furiously that Jason instinctive took a step back and raised his hands. “Sorry, I do not want to press but...”  
“Then stop it.”  
“I just wanted to say...”  
“Did I not make it clear enough, Grace? I do NOT want to talk about it!”

Jason's heart felt like someone had clenched it together. “Oh, back on last name base now?”  
Nico looked down, biting his lips. Jason noticed the hint of guilt crossing his features.  
“You wouldn't listen. I made myself clear.”  
“No, you wouldn't listen. Nico...” Jason took a step forward and grabbed Nico's shoulders. He knew that Nico did not like to be touched, but he was afraid that the other boy would run away or cut him off again.  
“I just wanted to say that you don't have to deal with things alone anymore. We're friends. I am here if you want to talk, about anything, and I think I have proven myself worthy of keeping a secret, haven't I? You can always come to me.”

As Nico looked up Jason was prepared for anything. Anger, sorrow, desperation. What he was not prepared for was the overall prominent look of pure horror on Nico's face.  
For a moment, they stared at each other, Nico wide eyed and obviously struggling with himself, Jason too surprised to say anything.  
Then Nico took a step back and whispered hoarsely “No. I can't”  
And with those words he disappeared into the shadows, leaving a highly confused Jason behind.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little party never killed somebody.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Christmas is coming and I am planning to end this fanfiction this year with a total amount of 16 chapters.  
> Again, it is just a small fluffy thing.

Chapter Six

Jason had been scared that Nico would fall back into old habits and leave the camp after their last conversation, but thankfully the younger demigod stayed.  
Later that evening, at the campfire, Nico hat placed himself next to Jason and demanded to talk to him.  
“I know you mean well, but promise me to skip this topic in upcoming conversations, will you?”  
Jason sighted. “I promise. I just want you to keep in mind what I have said. It's true.”  
“I will.”  
“Good.”  
They stared into the campfire, which slowly spit sparks into the night and just enjoyed the silence.

 

Weeks passed and everything seemed to fall back into a well trained rhythm. Jason busied himself with teaching younger demigods to fight, often accompanied by Nico. They made quite a good team and Jason noticed how good his training partner was in motivating his pupils.  
“You always find the right words.” he said after a particular long training session, cleaning the armoury they used. Nico shrugged. “I don't think so.”  
“Yeah, you do. Haven't you noticed how the ones that normally are left out crowd around you?”   
It took a second before Jason realized what he just said. He turned to Nico, ready to apologize “I am sorry, I haven't meant to...”   
But to his surprise Nico was smiling. “No. You're right, Jason.”  
Jason stood there, not sure what to say and how to prevent the situation from going awkward, but Nico just looked at him with raised brows. “What are you waiting for? We've got lessons to attend?” He grinned. “You may be a war hero, Grace, but that doesn't safe you from Ancient Greek lessons like the rest of us. And may I remind you that you are still poor at writing essays?”  
“Only because I learned Latin. I really want to see YOU writing an essay in Latin.”  
“I am good at Latin. Quick learner, you know? Hazel taught me when I visited her.”  
“Not fair.”  
And bickering they made their way over to the big house.

 

Percy had visited once.  
Despite Nico's reassurance that he was completely fine with that and his constant reminder that he made peace with his feelings for Percy, Jason noticed how nervous Nico became the nearer the date of Percy's visit was closing in.  
“He's so jumpy. I thought he would be calmer now that he told him and that they have seen each other a few times in Camp Jupiter” he told Piper on one of their walks around the camp.   
“Who could blame him?” she said.”Even if you once had a crush on someone which is gone, you still feel nervous when seeing them. They are a part of your life, most likely one you wish to forget. It's like someone waving a flag in front of your eyes while saying 'ignore it'.”  
Jason sighed and looked at their intertwined hands. “I know. I just wish I could help him through that. ”  
Piper looked at him, again with a look she gave him quite often in the past time, a mix of regret and comprehension and said slowly. “I know. But I guess you can't fight his battles.”

On the actual day of Percy's visit, Nico was even more irritable and tense than usually. He snapped at Jason for asking him about it and disappeared after half an hour with Percy telling them about his life in New Rome. Jason suspected he fled to the Apollo cabin and felt his heart twitch uncomfortable at the thought that Nico wouldn't open up to him but to Will.

 

The first of August came, warm, bright and sunny.   
Jason was standing next to Leo at the front of the big house, waiting for his friends to arrive. It was the very first anniversary of their victory over Gaea, and the former Argo crew had decided to celebrate this day together.  
Both camps had a party organized and sent delegations to the other one, after all, this was a mutual day to celebrate and also mourn their losses on the battlefield.  
Frank would come as praetor, which sadly also meant that Reyna had to stay in New Rome. Hazel and Annabeth would, of course, accompanied him, together with fifty demigods, who wanted to visit the battlefield again, pay respect to their loved ones or simply wanted to see their friends at the other camp. They would stay for two additional days before they would travel home again, taking Percy with them.

Jason was a bit nervous. He had seen his friends and had been to New Rome twice this year, but it just sprang to his mind that this really was the first time they were all together again since the battle against Gaea.   
Leo on the other hand seemed to be perfectly relaxed. He had mostly found back to his old self in the past few weeks, usually running around and planning mischief with the Stoll brothers, or working in the bunker, which he had converted into a mechanical repair workshop for anything campers may need to have fixed.   
He was currently fiddling with a small device (a little spy cam with legs like a spider. Jason didn't even ask for what he would need it.) and seated himself on the stairs.  
“Where's Percy?” Jason asked, being used that the three of them often stick together in the past few days, which sadly meant the absence of Nico for most of the time.   
“With Connor and Travis. Preparing the Hermes cabin.”  
“What for?”  
“Taking the guests as they always do. Due to them being a lot this time, they prepare space in the big house as well, but it's a tradition that the Hermes cabin takes guests.”  
“And why is Percy helping them? He's not a Hermes child.”  
Leo flinched as the wires gave a sickening sound and angrily pushed them back in one of his pockets. “No, he's not. But he had lived in the cabin before he was claimed and knows it quite well. It's a lot of work and with Chris being over to Camp Jupiter it's just Travis, Connor and Cecil, and believe me if I tell you there is a reason why they say that Cecil aces at messing things up.”  
“And why aren't you there to help? I thought you are friends with the twins.”

Leo looked up to him. “They're not twins. Travis is older.”  
Jason frowned. “Is he? I never knew. Well, they certainly look like twins. You can't tell them apart, except for the heigh.”  
“Of course you can. Connor's eyes look like cornflowers while Travis' just look like spring water. And they do not wrinkle when he laugh like Connor's. And they have a different way of holding themselves when standing around. And...”  
“Okay, okay. Fine.”  
And while Jason watches his best friend, searching for the moment he had become a poet in describing people, the Roman delegation arrived. 

 

One thing was for sure: the party was a blast.  
After a long, sorrowful evening of remembering lost friends and comrades, they had gathered around the campfire for a meal.   
Juniper and her wood nymph friends were serving fresh vegetables, sandwiches, fruit and delicious fresh pressed juices, wandering around the campers smiling. The campers and guests were seated under a big tent which had been, under supervision of Katie Gardner and the Demeter cabin, decorated with all sorts of flowers and ivy.   
Next to the tent the campfire was roaring, Greeks and Romans sitting around, drinking punch and singing stupid songs.  
Jason felt at ease, sitting next to Piper and Nico under the tent, stuffed with bacon and ham sandwich and holding a cup of orange juice. He watched Percy starting a discussion with Frank about the fact that blue was a way better colour for drinks than anything else (waving his blueberry juice in front of Frank's nose) with Frank pointing out that the beverage was more of purple than an actual blue.

Suddenly someone pushes between Nico and him. Next to him, grinning like a maniac, was Leo Valdez.  
“Hi Jay.”  
Jason's eyebrows rose. He put his glasses, that had fallen down, back on his nose and listened to Nico making a rude comment about Leo's entrance before moving over to Frank, Percy and Hazel.  
“Hey Leo. Something's chasing you or why do you come running like you're about to be beheaded?”  
Leo's grin got, if possible, even wider. He leaned against Jason, which made the Son of Jupiter quite uncomfortable. “Forgot.”  
“What?”  
“I forgot. I really wanted to tell you something. It was impoooo...”

Jason pressed his hand over Leo's mouth to silence him, looking at his best friend completely bewildered. “Leo...are you drunk?”  
Leo blinked, then leaned back again, giggling. “Maybe a bit?”  
Jason hushed his voice so that nobody around would understand him. “Leo, are you mental? How do you even got the alcohol in here? Dionysus will end you! Well, right after he confiscated it to drink it himself.”  
Leo giggled again and after a loud 'shhht' from Jason lowered his voice as well. “I wanted to spike the punch, 's funny. V'ry funny. But then....but then...” He stopped as if he forgot what he was about to say.  
“Then?”  
“...'t was tasty.”  
“What?!”

Suddenly a voice chimed in from beyond Leo.  
“What are you doing? Planning mischief without me. Not fair, Leo!”  
Jason looked over Leo's shoulders in the eye of Connor Stoll, smiling his usual crooked smile and sudden anger washed over him like a wave. He reached over Leo, who just fell backwards like a puppet, clenched his fist into Connor's shirt and pulled him nearer.  
“Listen Stoll, I do not know what you have done to Leo, but he wouldn't have done this if you hadn't abetted him in any way...”  
Connor was still smiling.”What had he done this time? Was it good?”  
“He is completely drunk you idiot!” hissed Jason, pushing Connor away to help Leo up again.

Connor's smile fell from his lips and he stared down at Leo perplexed. “He's what?”  
“Drunk! I don't know what you gave him...”  
“I didn't gave him anything. I didn't know I swear. On the Styx if you wish.”

“Jason?”  
Jason's head flew around and his eyes fell on Piper, who returned his look, seeming a bit unsure. She obviously hadn't noticed what was going on, being unusually quiet the whole evening and just talking to Annabeth in a silent corner for a while. Behind her, Hazel was feeding Frank some Apple slices and Percy talked to Nico, wearing a quite serious look.  
“I need to talk to you.”  
“Not now Pipes, It's just...”  
“No. It needs to be now.” Her face and the quietly added “Please” made clear that this was something important. He turned to Connor who had obviously listened.  
Connor nodded, put his arm around Leo's shoulder and helped him up. “I'll take care of him. Don't worry.”

Jason could nothing but nod, following Piper away from the campfire to the woods, one last glance to Leo, and hoping that this wasn't a really bad decision.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper is making a huge decision that will alter both, Jasons and her own life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you get two new chapters today :)  
> Thank you for reading this fanfiction and enjoy.

Chapter Seven

“Where are we going Pipes?”  
Jason looked back again, watching the glow of the campfire disappear behind him. They were heading towards the woods, already entering a small path between the trees. Jason guessed they are somewhere near one of the small rivers running through the wood, because he thought he heard the sound of water nearby.  
On a clearing next to the river itself, Piper stopped and turned to him. She looked extremely nervous.  
“I am sorry Jason, I just wanted to go somewhere where I can be sure that nobody is listening.”  
Jason smiled reassuring and stepped to her, arms outstretched and reaching for her hands, but she pulled away.  
He frowned. “Piper, what's going on?”

 

She took a deep breath, as if preparing for a fight, then:  
“I think we should break up.”

 

At first Jason thought he had misheard her. Then, slowly and painfully, the realization of her words dawned on him. His face must have reflected his thoughts, because Piper looked away, stammering things like she was sorry before catching herself again and went silent.  
For a very long moment there was nothing between them but thick, deep silence. 

Jason found himself sinking down on a stone, still staring into open space and not knowing what to do, not even knowing what to think. After a while Piper crouched down before him and searched for his gaze.  
As they met, Jason asked. “Why?”

Piper smiled sadly. “Exactly because of this.”  
“Of what?”  
“You asking that question.”  
“I do not understand...”  
“Yes Jason. I believe you. I know you don't, and I assure you this isn't a spur of the moment thing. It took me a while to think this through and it took me even longer to finally decide what to do. I was glad I could talk to Annabeth today, she was a great help.”

Jason was still irritated, searching for the answer to his question in her face but finding nothing than sorrow in it. “Piper, I don't think I get you. Please explain to me why you're breaking up with me?”  
“Because we are not a couple anymore.”  
“Of course we are a couple!”  
“Are we?”  
She roses to her feet again starting to wander around the clearing. “Then tell me Jason, when was the last time we kissed? I mean really kissed, not just meaningless pecks on the cheek?”

Jason thought about it and to his own horror, he found no answer, crashing through memories of the past days to find the one where he last held her in his arms. She stopped and bit her lip. “I'll help you Jason. It was three weeks ago. Three full weeks. And the last kiss you initiated yourself was ages ago.”  
He couldn't correct her and she knew. She was walking a small circle around him while talking, hands animating her words like Nico used to do it when he was angry or upset.  
He mumbled. “I didn't realize.”  
“No you didn't.” she exhaled. “You didn't realize any of this. You didn't realize how we slowly drift apart. How we are more friends than a couple. How the only thing we do that distinguish our relationship from the one you have with Leo is holding each others hand. You did not realize how I wish for us to grow more together when you seem to separate us day by day. Your time is so rare, lately, you're either teaching the children or learning or hanging around with Nico. There are days when I am not even seeing you, if not for the meals. And all of this wouldn't matter if the times we do see each other would be like old times, but they are not. You always seem so distant, like you are physically there, but your mind is somewhere else.”  
She finally stopped right in front of him, looking down, smiling sadly again.  
“To be honest, Jason, you are breaking up with me. You just haven't realized, yet.”

Jason rose as well, not liking the way she was towering over him and a little spark of anger somewhere in the back of his mind gleamed through all the disbelief of the situation.  
“You can't break up with me and then say it's actually me doing this. You can't make it look like it's all my fault, Pipes. I did not want to end it like this. I did not want to end it in the first place. I still don't want to.”

“I know.” she said.  
He took her hands in his. “Then why not try again? Start new? Why do you say it's over? Isn't there a second chance?”  
A tear was running down her cheek now and Jason recognized how much strength it must cost her to not cry in front of him. He reached out, but Piper was faster, brushing the tear away in a swift move. Her voice, powerful and in control even without her using charmspeak was barely a whisper.  
“There could be Jay. If you can here and now tell me that you love me. That you desire me with all your heart. If you can honestly tell me this, then there could be a chance.”

He opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again.  
Of course he loved Piper. She was the best friend someone could wish for. Soft, caring, powerful in her own way, always there if you need her. She was so close to him that he couldn't think them apart.  
Her voice chimed in again. “Do you wish to kiss me if you look at me? Do you miss me when I'm not there? Am I the first thing you think of when you awake, Jason? Or the last when you go to sleep?”  
He stayed silent.

“I guessed.” she said.  
She pressed his hands lightly.   
“Don't get me wrong, Jason. We had a wonderful time and I do not expect love like on the first day. But what we have now is not a relationship, it's a friendship. A good one, but still not enough to carry on with this. I won't say it is your fault, it's mine as well. I have taken you for granted, I didn't thought something could happen that may drive you away from me and while doing so, I didn't realize that we are separating and you are starting to think of somo...” She stopped herself and started again. “I am a daughter of Aphrodite, I can sense potential and your potential... “  
She looked at him softly. “Your potential is elsewhere.”

He bit his lips again.  
“So it's over.”  
“It's over.”  
“No going back?”  
Now she was crying, voice still steady. “No Jason, I do not think so. I am sorry. I talked to Annabeth, I told her what I thought and felt in the past few weeks. She did not advise me, she said it has to be my own decision, but she offered me to go to New Rome with her and apply for university and...and I think I will do it.”  
“Y...you do...what?”  
“I'll leave with Annabeth and Percy in two days, Jay. I'll go to New Rome.”

This was worse than any break up. Jason didn't know what to say, he just grabbed her shoulders and stared into her eyes.

He couldn't live without Piper. He doesn't know how to do without Piper. Here, on this dark clearing of the camps forest, he realized that from the first moment he took a step into his new life, his new way after Rome, she had been there. She had been his support, always there to reassurance him when he thought he couldn't manage.   
There was a proverb stating 'you don't know what you've got until it's gone', and for the first time in his life Jason get the idea what this meant. He always knew what he had in Piper, but he was so used to it that he'd taken her for granted, pretending it would always be them against the world.

He was about to say all that to her when he made up his mind. No. That wasn't fair.   
Piper was right, they were driven apart from each other in the last month. He knew it and he also realized that it had to lead ultimately to this. Now she was the one bringing up the courage to speak about it and make a decision that will alter both of their lives. He could not go and make her feel any more bad than she already must feel.

So he forced a smile that didn't reach his eyes and patted her shoulder.  
“That's good” he said. “You'll do great, I know. You will go to university and become a teacher. You will be the fear of all upcoming Leos and Connors and whoever is planning to do nonsense in your classroom. You will find new friends and you will make boys go wild and when you come back you'll tell me the best stories and I'll be here to listen to them.”  
She cried even more now, sobbing against his shoulder and clenching his shirt.  
He pulled her in his arms and hold her tight, whispering in her ear. “You know I love you, do you. And in this way, I always will.”

And finally her voice broke.  
“ I know.”

 

Jason never really remembered how he had made the way back to his cabin. He rounded the huts, trying to avoid the still ongoing party around the fire. A few other campers crossed his way and greeted him, but he wasn't listening and didn't recognized any of them.  
He finally reached his cabin, opened the door and leaned his forehead against the cool marble wall. They broke up.  
They really broke up.  
He hadn't dreamed. From now on, there would be no Jason and Piper anymore. He would be here, living his life in Camp Halfblood and she would be studying in New Rome. 

Someone knocked on his door and Jason, still standing beside it, opened immediately. He half expected it to be Piper, but was more than pleased to see Nico's mop of black hair. Nico was just the person he needed right now, calm, cool and stable.

This was until he saw Nico's face.

The boy in his doorframe was furiously sobbing, tears streaming down both of his cheeks, eyes puffy and red. “Jason...” he managed to choke out, stumbling into the room.  
“Nico, Gods Nico what happened?”  
He never had seen the son of Hades in such a condition. He hadn't even cried after the whole incident in Split. 

Nico sobbed again, a single word, a name.   
“Percy.”


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LEO PoV
> 
> Leo wakes after a long night in his bunker and realizes something's clearly wrong...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments, they mean a lot to me :)  
> I am not sure if I will be updating during christmas days. If not, I wish you a very merry christmas and that you all celebrate the way you like to.

Chapter Eight

The first thing Leo felt while he slowly found his way back to conciousness was heat.  
It wasn't his own, normal body heat, which was under the circumstances of his parentage usually a bit higher than normal people's body heat, it was more of an embracing warmth, like someone put their arms around you and pull you close. Like a blanket when the world around you was ice.

It remembered him of a long forgotten day in mid-October, oh so many years ago, when his Mom was still alive. Temperatures had fallen within a few days and their landlord hadn't turned on the heating in time. His mother had made tea with a lot of sugar, draped Leo in two fluffy blankets and cuddled behind him on the big couch while telling him the story of the Snow Queen and the separated siblings. Leo had been so warm back then, laughing about his mothers face while she imitates the boy, his eyes glued to her lips when she recited the evil Queen's words.  
It had been a good day, a good memory from a better life, somewhere hidden in the back of his mind, but the feeling he had was still there. And it was exactly what he felt now.  
It felt nice, and cosy, and Leo was sure he did not want to leave.

So he decided to let his eyes shut and fall back to sleep. It shouldn't be hard with all that comforting warmth and the pleasant scent in his nose.  
He did not know where it came from, but he was sure he knew it from somewhere. It was a mixture of aromas, all wrapped into one scent.  
Leo had never been an expert at this, perfumes was more an Aphrodite kind of thing, but when he concentrated really hard he was sure he could make out the different parts.  
First there was a hint of wood. Deep and earthy, like a whole forest after a rainstorm. It was just an Echo of scent, lingering somewhere. Mixed with it, but far more contentful, was the rich smell of cloves. It was almost overwhelming, making Leo feel even more relaxed and placid then before.  
There also was, very faint in the background, another scent which he couldn't classified, although he was sure he had smelled it before.

Leo sighted. He was so completely content right here and now, sinking back into the darkness of sleep, trying to remember the dream he had before waking up for the first time. It had been a nice dream and Leo was keen to get it again, if possible.  
There had been a lot of people in his dream. No, not people, friends. They had been talking and laughing, cracking jokes and celebrating something. A party.  
Leo remembered dreaming about Hazel feeding Frank with apple slices. He wondered why Frank appeared in his dream and decided he should maybe wishing for another instead.

He turned his head and body to the other side for a better position, pushing against the warm object besides him and under his head. What was he even lying at? It did not feel like a blanket, more like it provides heat on his own.  
Almost like skin.  
Leo finally opened his eyes, blinking to see through the dim light in Bunker 9, only to find himself staring into the sleeping face of Connor Stoll.

For a few seconds he just stared, looking at Connor but unable to process the information his eyes send to his brain. Then realization finally began to dawn on him.  
It was skin he was lying at.  
Connor had his right arm under Leo's head, propping it up a bit. From what Leo could see from his position, the other boy was still sleeping, breathing lightly against Leo's face.  
A single blanket was draped over both of them, not covering the bare chests but beginning just over Connors waistline.

Leo's mind exploded with questions full of shock.  
Why was Connor here? Why was he sleeping in Bunker 9? Why was he lying next to him, spooning him of all things? Why wasn't he wearing a top and why...  
Suddenly everything seemed to stop for a second and with a fearful shudder Leo looked at his own, bare chest. Why wasn't HE wearing a top? And if he wasn't wearing a top, was he...?  
He rubbed his legs against each other and to his horror, he felt what he had feared.

He was naked.  
He was lying completely naked next to Connor Stoll.  
Who was probably naked, too.

Leo concentrated on breathing. In. Out.  
He needed to sort his thoughts, or else he would go crazy. Or maybe he already had gone crazy, he had to admit that he wasn't sure. He tried to remember how he ended up in this position, naked with another man, but his mind was so foggy right now that he couldn't organize his memories properly.  
One thing was sure, he needed to get out of here, or else he would absolutely lose his mind.

He shot another glance to Connors face, but his opponent still seems to sleep deeply. Careful not to wake him up, Leo started to slight down on the mattress.  
He hissed sharply. His body ached like someone had beaten him up.  
Leo felt his panic washing over him again. Why did everything hurt? Why did he feel like someone punched him into oblivion? And why the hell was he naked in his makeshift bed with Connor Stoll?

All colour was drained from Leo's cheeks as the logical consequence of his own thoughts and questions hit him like a train on full speed. He stared down at Connor, shivering from head to toe. And somewhere in the back of his mind, a conversation found it's way back into his thoughts.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
He absolutely loved kissing her.  
Kissing Calypso was always like someone had just gave him a pot of hot cocoa with a bit of cinnamon in it.  
Carefully he placed his hands on her neck to pull her closer. He couldn't ever have her close enough, feel her, taste her, smell her. He involuntary let out a small moan and deepened the kiss, when suddenly her hands were on his chest and slightly pushing him away.  
“Leo. Leo, wait.”

He stopped and raised one of his eyebrows in question.  
“What? Did I do something wrong? Wasn't it good? Should I maybe put the hands somewhere else, are they bothering you?”  
She just smiled sweetly, taking his hands into hers. “No, that's fine. It's just... I didn't expect you to be so fiery about the kiss.”  
“Well, fiery is kind of my second name.”  
“Stop it, Valdez, don't mock me.”  
“What? I thought you like feisty boys.”  
“I just wanted to make sure we both know where this is going. And I thought it's a bit... early, you know?”

He sat back on their hotel bed, pulling Calypso with him. She sat quietly, eyes never leaving his.  
“Going? I don't... oh.” Suddenly it dawned on Leo what she was talking about and he felt his cheeks heating up. He stared on his knees, not knowing what to say before he began to stammer a few disjointed words. “I... yes. I mean no... yes....early...eh...no...ehm...”  
“It would be your first time?”  
Leo didn't thought it was possible to go redder than he already was, but his body seemed to work along the lines of 'you should always try your best'.  
“Ehm...yes?”

He looked up again, searching for her eyes, not daring to ask what he wanted to know. Her knowing smile answered the question before Leo decided what to do.  
He shouldn't be mad at her, he really shouldn't. She was so much older than he was (a fact that he tend to suppress most of the time) and had encountered so many men, maybe even before she reached Ogygia. For a second he thought about asking who it was, but he decided against it quickly. If she would want to tell him, she could do so, but it was her past and Leo was only interested in her future.  
Their future.

She pressed his hands.  
“Leo. A first time is something special and very precious. We can only give and experience it once, and when it's gone, something within you is gone. You lose a part of your childhood, a part of something very innocent. Believe me, you can kill thousands of monsters and still keep that once innocent part, but if it's gone, it's gone forever.  
I do not say it's not worth it, it absolutely is. But don't give it up too quickly, or in haste, or without thinking. It's too precious. You're too precious. It should only be given to the right person.  
I think... I think it's a bit... a bit early to give it to me.”

Leo kissed her finger. “You're right.” he said and listened as she let out a relieved sigh.  
“We have so much time. But one day, Cal, I'll give it to you. Because I agree, it should be given to the right person and Cal, I love you, you are the perfect person for me. I am looking forward to it.”  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She had looked so painful back then and he had thought it was because she remembered her first time, that it probably was disappointing for her.  
Today he knew better.  
She had known that she wasn't the right person. She knew that she could never love him like he loved her. 

Leo gulped, gaze on Connors rising and sinking chest.  
Had he given away what had been too precious, even for Calypso? To Connor?  
In a haste and without even remembering it, just like Calypso had told him he shouldn't? This was not what Leo expected his first time to be.  
Then Connor stirred in his sleep and Leo panicked again.  
Out. He needed to get out!  
Not caring anymore if he wakes Connor fully or not he jumped off the bed, grabbing random working trousers that were still lying on his workbench and pulling them on in a record of time. Behind him, he heard the raspy voice of the other boy, sounding so sleepy that Leo wasn't sure if he was already completely awake.  
“Leo...?”

Out. Out. He couldn't talk to Connor, Hades, he couldn't even look at Connor. He just wants to be far away, running, fleeing. But where to?  
Then a thought crossed his mind.  
Jason.  
Jason had never been judging when it came to this kind of relationships. Jason was his best friend. If he had supported Nico he would support Leo as well... at least he would listen to him.  
“Leo... Leo what's goi..?”

He started to ran without looking back, the heavy door of the bunker smashing back with a hard sound, leaving behind his confused mind, a huge part of his innocence... and Connor Stoll.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your comments.  
> I was a bit nervous about the Connor/Leo Pairing, because it is mainly a product of a joke my friends made a few weeks ago. I grew really fond of it, but I thought you guys would probably hate it.
> 
> Anyways, this Chapter is a a Jasico Chapter and it's Jason's POV, so enjoy.

Chapter Nine

Jason was used to making though decisions.  
In his time as praetor of New Rome, he had learned to put his own needs back in the benefit of other peoples problems. It has gone beyond the point where he even noticed it and up to an actual defence mechanism.   
Do not think, just work.  
It made his life easier, made it so much more simple to carry the burden of deciding fate day after day. Only after he the war, after he gave in to his own decision to become more 'Greek', he had learned to actually listen to his own thoughts, giving in to his feelings or trying to not always put others first.

But still, old habits die hard and this part of his still lingering personality kicked into full engine when he saw the crying boy in the middle of his cabin.  
He grabbed Nico's hand and pulled him over to the bed, pushing him down carefully and searching for some tissues. Nico was still sobbing, his shoulders shaking violently and he had pressed his face into his own hands.  
Finally, Jason found what he was looking for and placed the box beside Nico, who didn't even look up. He reached over the boy's shoulder, carefully not to touch him, and placed a blanket around him before sitting down on the mattress, leaving enough space between their bodies to not made Nico feel like he was pressing him.

Nico's sobs finally died, his shoulders still shaking but becoming calmer every minute. Jason listened to his breath, which Nico was trying to get under control again, and he couldn't help wondering what on earth Percy Jackson had said to him, that made Nico cry.

Jason knew Nico for quite a while now, and maybe better than most of the other campers, including even Percy. At least he knew the Nico who fought in war, the boy who normally wanders around ghost and deceased, not even flinching. The boy who had stood up bravely against Cupid's games, survived Tartarus all on his own and risked his life for friends and family.  
Jason knew that Nico had been through a lot. He knew that whatever pain he himself had felt in his life, Nico must have had it doubled. Or even more? Who could say with him being such an introvert.  
But in all this time, Jason had never seen Nico loosing his temper like this, except maybe for that time in Cupid's palace. But there, he had been angered and reacting with fury instead of grief, calling Jason a”golden boy” who had it easy in life.   
Nico di Angelo had never cried in front of him before, whatever blows of fate had hit him, and the thought of Percy to manage the impossible, undoubtedly without even knowing or intending it, made Jason want to hit something. 

Nico's voice broke the silence that had formed around them, and it sounded so raspy and broken that Jason wanted nothing more than to comfort him.  
“I am sorry for this outburst.”  
Jason turned his head to look at him, watching as the pale boy rubbed over his eyes with the tissue to delete every trace of tears still lingering on them. Though, he looked utterly pitiful. Jason knew better than to tell it, but he thought that Nico looked like a lost kitten, sitting there with swollen lips and cheeks so red from crying that they looked in the sharp contrast to his otherwise pale skin like he had a high fever.  
“There is no need to be sorry” Jason answered. “Do you wanna speak about it?”  
“No.”  
“It may help you, you know?”  
“I do not think so.”

They stayed silent for another moment. Jason did not want to press the other boy, but seriously, what did Nico think? That he could stumble into Jason's cabin past bedtime, crying like a child and then not answer any question that weights heavy on Jason's mind?

He started another attack.  
“You know, for some of us it might help to speak about what is on our mind to clear it.”  
“I am not one of those.”  
“You haven't tried.”  
“Jason...”  
“No seriously, you can talk to me.”  
“...stop it Jason...”  
“Did you and Percy talk about...”  
“I SAID I DON'T WANNA TALK ABOUT IT!”

Nico was on his feet again, tears in his eyes but screaming. The room suddenly felt much colder to Jason and he wasn't sure if he just imagined the earth shaking for a second or if Nico's rage really summoned a small earthquake.   
Whatever it was, Jason himself was on his feet as well, towering over Nico due to their natural difference in height. He looked down in the furious eyes of his opposite, trying to hold his voice calm and steady. Not for the first time in his life he wished he was Piper, with her ability to always stay in control while talking, but he couldn't manage to ban the anger and the hurt completely out of his words.

“Fine. I won't press you about it. At least for now. But if you think I am giving up on this matter, you thought wrong. How could I, after you came running into my cabin crying, way past bedtime?”  
“I should have known it was a bad idea!”  
“No it wasn't! Nico, you can't expect me to just let you go like this without knowing what happened or at least without being sure that you are better. Right now, you are clearly not.”  
He stared into Nico's eyes, which were filled with a mixture of anger and defiance.  
“And don't give me this look. I don't think you need to be pitied or be mothered, Nico, I just want to say that I care about you. There are many people who care about you, in fact, and it would be a great benefit if you'd stop hiding your feelings and let us help you.”  
He took a breath.   
“I thought we are friends?”

For a moment Jason was sure he said the wrong thing. Nico's eyes flashed of hurt and a so clear stroke of grief that Jason instinctive grabbed his arms in fear that the son of Hades might just dissolve into the shadows.   
Then the moment passed and to his own surprise Jason's arms were suddenly full of Nico di Angelo. Literally.   
Someone must have marked this day as “Crash Jason Grace's mind”-day. Seriously, first his drunken best friend, then the break up with Piper and now Nico di Angelo, who normally detested being touched, was lying in his arms, face hidden in the folds of Jason's shirt. 

For a few moments they were standing there awkwardly, hugging in the middle of the room, before Jason found his voice again. He coughed unsure, admitting to himself that he was completely overwhelmed with this whole situation. This wasn't usually his area. This was more Hazel's or Piper's thing.  
“Ehm... maybe we should sit down to talk...?”  
Nico just nodded, letting go of Jason to sit back on the mattress. He didn't met the blondes eyes when he sat next to him, eyes fixed on his own hands who shook slightly.  
Jason gave him another moment before he added a questioning: “So?”

Nico took a deep breath.   
“I talked to Percy about me having a crush on him back then...”  
“I figured as much.”  
Nico flashed him a quick, angry look before fixing his eyes back on his hands and continued.   
“He took me aside at the party tonight. He said he needed to talk to me because he thought there was still something hanging in the air between us. I said I did not fancy him anymore.”  
And under Jason's questioning look he added. “It's true. I don't. There's someone else-”  
He cut himself of and bit his lip's as if he had already said too much. “Never mind. We talked about it and he told me that he was honoured that I had a crush on him, that I would be a good person and a great friend to him. He admired me for being open about my feelings and my sexual orientation...”  
“That's genuinely nice of him.”  
“...because he could never bring himself to do so.”

A silence, so complete as if someone sucked all the noises of the world out of the room, filled the cabin. Jason wasn't even sure if he was breathing.  
His mind couldn't quite wrap around what Nico had just said and he opened his mouth to say something, just to close it a second after.   
Yes, he decided, really the most confusing day he ever had.   
As long as he knew Percy he was Annabeth' boyfriend and as far as he was informed, this had been the case for quite a while. Jason wasn't one of those people who saw sexuality in a matter of black and white, but it still came to him as a bit of a surprise that there must have been a time in Percy's life where he hadn't been sure if he was interested in boys.

Nico's voice was now thin, as if it costs him a lot of strength to force the words out of his mouth.   
“...and he told me all about how he was falling for Luke at an early age. How he felt for him and how he had died a little inside after he had never told Luke and...”  
His voice broke down and Jason, who's gaze had been on Nico's shaky fingers as well, looked up as a single tear fell on the clenched hands.   
Luke? Hadn't that been the traitor who worked for Kronos?  
Jason faintly remembered talking to Percy and Annabeth about him a while ago, and the memory of Percy's bitter tone back than came to his mind. Well, this made sense now. Also the angry way he reacted when Jason had called Luke a traitor. 

“...I thought I was completely cool with him, Jason. I thought I was fine, because he always seemed so far out of my reach with Annabeth at his side... but to know that there had been a possibility...knowing that it could have...maybe if I had just... had just been...different...”  
He sobbed and bit his lip, so hard this time that Jason could see it drew blood.   
“...gods, why does it hurt like this?”

And with that sentence, Jason took the only logical option.   
He leaned over and pulled Nico in his arms, for once not caring if the other boy liked to be touched. He just wanted to comfort him, show him that he cared, that he understands, even if he really couldn't imagine how it must be for Nico.  
Jason was sure that Percy did mean well. He had thought Nico was over him, he had wanted to clear the air and made him feel better. He hadn't known how much of an impact this information would have on Nico's heart, because if Jason knows one thing for sure, than it was that the son of Poseidon was even more oblivious to feelings, especially if they were directed at him, than he was himself. 

He didn't say anything while Nico cried in his arms, finally completely giving in to his tears, because it seemed pointless. What would it be worth if he said he was sorry for Nico? That he thought Percy should better kept this information about his past for himself? That Nico should never think that he should be changing for someone?  
Nothing.  
None of that would take away the pain in the other boys heart. They would all just sound like meaningless phrases, even if Jason truly meant all of them.  
So he just brought himself to a more comfortable position on the bed, pulling Nico aside him and held him while he was crying, gently stroking his hair from time to time, but didn't made a sound himself.  
Some things where best cured with just being there for someone and Nico hadn't had someone who was just there for him like this in a long time. Hazel may have tried, but Jason knew that Nico always felt like he couldn't put too much pressure on her or bother her with his problems (a fact that they discussed a lot over the past year) because of what happened to Bianca.   
While stroking Nico's dark hair once more, Jason thought to himself how this small and scrawny boy in his arms could survive this long.  
Nico was adamant.   
But everyone needed someone to rely on sometimes, or you'd go crazy. Everyone needed someone to talk to, someone he could trust.  
And Jason decided that if by coming here, the boy had given him the possibility to be this person for him, he would do anything to assure Nico that he chose wisely.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo does not take news very well

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year to everyone :) I hope you all had a lovely start in those first days  
> Anyways, my exams are coming and so I cannot guarantee regular updates for the next days, but I promise this story will be finished.  
> Now as always: have fun

Leo thanked all of the gods for not meeting somebody while running through the camp. It was still pretty early in the morning, and after last night's party, there weren't many people around for morning walks or other activities. The camp almost felt deserted, with no one standing around the cabins and no sounds of the normal chatter.  
Though Leo could see that someone had already cleaned up the place (supposedly the harpies) and he heard the sound of a hair-dryer as he passed the Aphrodite cabin. 'So there are people alive here', he thought, 'good to know I am not in a bad dream. Or maybe I should wish I am.'

Leo hadn't thought much when he went off to see Jason. First of all he hadn't thought about what would happening after. Sure, Jason would not judge him. Jason would most likely listen to him, patting his back and saying that everything would come to a good solution in the end.  
But Leo felt like someone just started a personal vendetta on his love life.  
He had left Connor back at the bunker, which had been a very good idea a few minutes ago, but now he thought of what do to when he would saw him again. How could he ever look in Connor's face again?

He came to a halt in front of Jason's cabin, resting his hands on his knees and breathing deep to calm himself down. He didn't even realized that he ran all the way from the bunker to cabin one.  
After a few minutes, he raised his hand, knocked very lightly and opened the door.  
Maybe Jason would be up for a morning jog, like usually or, if not, Leo would wake him up.

In retrospective Leo was sure that his previous encounter with Connor's face next to him had drained his energy system for being 'shocked' that much, that the sight of his best friend now didn't do more than startle him. Otherwise he was sure, he would have had a heart attack.  
He stared into Jason's sleepy face, still in yesterdays clothes with ruffled hair and eyes which were still fighting the light that fell merciless through the cabin door. So far, he looked like almost every morning, if you ignored the clothes.  
What ruins the image completely was the soundly asleep son of Hades, who was currently curled up in his best friends arms, looking kind of exhausted.

This was too much for Leo.  
Waking up next to a naked friend: okay.  
Running off to find your best friend, who is in a relationship, with another man: not okay.  
He let himself fall against the marble wall and slid down, landing ungracefully on his ass, while his eyes never left Jason's.  
The blonde blinked again, his voice still sleepy. “Leo? What are you doing here?”  
“Funny... I was about to ask you just the same thing.”

Jason looked confused, before his eyes wandered down to Nico, then up at Leo, then back again.  
Suddenly he gasped, shaking his head violently while lowering his voice to not wake the sleeping boy in his arms.  
“Leo, I swear this is not what it looks like.”

The son of Hephaestus didn't even know what to say anymore. When had his life decided to become some stupid RomCom?  
“So, you're going to tell me you are not lying in your bed with Nico di Angelo, having him in your arms and looking like you just slept before I came in?” he asked, voice exhausted and quiet.  
Jason shook his head. “No. I mean yes. I mean... oh gods Leo, you know what I mean. We hadn't have... you know...”

Yes, Leo know. No, Leo didn't want to know. Leo didn't want to talk about that topic.  
Suddenly, a wave of hurt crashed over him, like someone just emptied a bucket of ice cold water over his head. 

He remembered the day he broke up with Calypso, the empty feeling she left behind and how he didn't understand what had happened and why she did not love him back. He had been so sure to do something right, to treat her for what she was, the most precious thing he ever owned. Well, he didn't really 'own' her, but he was her boyfriend. They were a thing. They were made for each other. At least that was what Leo had thought.

His hurt changed to anger.  
He looked at Jason, still trying to get off the boy on his chest without waking him up, and thought about Piper. How she had become so much more silent in the past few weeks, how she was always there for them and how much he knew she loved Jason.  
How could he hurt her feelings in that way?  
“What do you think you're doing? Cuddling with the Hades kid? Do you even think about what you do to Piper?” he hissed.  
“Leo, let me explain...”  
“I don't think I need to listen to explanations of a cheater.”  
“Piper and I broke up yesterday.”

Too much. Just too much.  
Leo thought his head would explode. This could not be real. This had to be a dream.  
“You WHAT?!”  
Di Angelo mumbled something and turned to the other side.  
“Shhhht...” Jason whispered, throwing a worried glance to the boy beside him. “Look Leo, it was...”  
“I don't want to know. I don't want to hear!”  
It was just overall too much to bear for him. Leo stumbled to his feet, nearly loosing his balance. His head swirled like someone had hit him. He didn't want to listen to any of Jason's explanations, didn't want to think about the fact that Jason and Piper, the perfect pair, his best friends, who were having the kind of relationship he always wanted to have, weren't a couple anymore. So he turned on the spot and fled out of the cabin.

He hadn't come far, maybe four or five steps, when a big hand grabbed his arm and yanked him back.  
Leo shrieked, turning around to find Jason standing beside him, looking slightly out of breath.  
“Stop it...” he panted. “You can't just run away like that.”  
“I can't. Well, watch me.”  
“It's not fair, Leo!”  
“NOT FAIR?” 

Leo didn't care if he would wake up the whole camp. He didn't care who could be listening or what they might think, right now he was just extremely angry. Heat boiled up in his body as he stared up into Jason's face, spitting the words in his face. “You say it is not fair? YOU are not fair! So you broke up with Piper yesterday? Well, Grace, what a great Gentleman you are, lying in bed with someone else today. What a great way to show the world just how deeply you cared for her!”  
Leo didn't care that his words would provoke Jason, hell, maybe he even intended to. His best friend clenched his hands, fist shaking but otherwise managed to stay calm.  
“You know as good as I do that this isn't true, Leo. I loved Piper. Just listen for once.”  
“I don't want to listen, I can guess what happened just perfectly.”  
“Hell LEO. Not everything is about you and Calypso!”

Something snapped inside of Leo's mind and with a scream he threw himself on Jason, feeling that his skin was on fire and throwing a punch at his best friend's face. He knew that under any normal circumstances he wouldn't stand a chance, but his actions may have surprised Jason so much that he didn't react properly. And so Leo landed a full blow to Jason's chin, feeling the flesh break under his knuckles.  
It only took a second before Jason jumped back at him, small amounts of electricity unloading themselves in the air around him and Leo was sure that this would have ended pretty badly if not for the screaming voice that put both of them to an abrupt halt.  
“STOP!”

They couldn't move, stopped dead in track, both looking at Piper, who was standing few meters from them in front of a small crowd of bystanders.  
She just stared back, gaping, before marching over to them.  
“Have you two gone mental?”  
“Piper...”  
“Shut it. YOU!” She turned to Jason who took a step back, hands raised to calm her down. “Go back to your cabin and change. You are stinking.”  
Jason looked for a second as if he wanted to complain, but seems to decide that his life wasn't worth risking for winning an argument about his clothes, so he turned and disappeared into his cabin, passing di Angelo, who was leaning in the doorway.

Leo glared at both of them before Piper turned her piercing eyes on him.  
“And you Valdez...” her voice was quieter but far more dangerous now “...are coming with me now. We have to talk.”  
“But Pipes...”  
“GO!”  
And Leo had no choice but to follow the heavy charmspeak in her words, knowing that he messed up big time.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo and Jason may be idiots, but they are still best friends.  
> And they won't let each other forget that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody. Next chapter for you.   
> Enjoy

“Fuck.” Jason cursed as he entered his cabin, examining the wound on his chin. It was a nasty cut with burned rims, supposedly from Leo's hot temperature while hitting him. It was bleeding quite a lot and Jason held his hand under it to keep the blood from ruining his shirt and floor.  
He searched for something to still it, when a small hand appeared on his shoulder and he felt a cool piece of fabric pressed against his chin.   
Nico was standing in front of him, wiping the blood away carefully while giving the cut an appraising look.”It doesn't look very bad. The cut isn't very deep. You shouldn't get Ambrosia, it will heal just nicely without it, I guess. Thought it may leave another small scar, but you can never be sure with that.” He pulled out a plaster from gods know where and put it on Jason's chin before grinning. “At least 'got hit by my best friend in the face' sounds better than stapler eating, don't you think?”  
Jason blinked and took the fabric from Nico's hand. “Yeah... you're probably right.”  
He sat down on the bed again. “I don't know what got into Leo...” He smiled up at Nico while adding. “But don't worry, we'll work it out. I am just fine here, thanks for the help.”

To his surprise, Nico didn't seem like he would want to leave. Instead he sat beside Jason again, giving him a questioning look. “You haven't told me about you and Piper breaking up...”  
“Well, there wasn't time for it...”  
Funny, Jason thought, this is the second time in two days he found himself sitting next to Nico on this bed, talking about their feelings, though this time it seems to be his turn.  
Nico looked a bit unsure and Jason noticed that he was playing with his skull ring.   
“Do you want to tell me about it?”

Nico sounded genuinely and Jason smiled at him, nodding. “Yes, I think it would help.” Actually he wasn't quite sure. Nico's appearance on his doorstep yesterday had wiped everything that happened before out of his mind, but thinking about it now he felt the lump in his throat returning. Nevertheless he couldn't expect Nico to open up to him and tell him about his problems but refuses to do so himself.  
Nico kept his gaze locked with Jason's as the son of Jupiter started to explain everything Piper had said to him, startled how easy it was to remember every word she spoke. He didn't stopped until he was through it, suddenly feeling like someone had taken a huge weigh from his chest.  
Nico just knit his brows.  
“So, she said she broke up with you because she thinks that your feelings towards her have changed?”  
“Yes.”  
“And do you think she's right?”

A moment of silent passed between them before Jason nodded.  
“I can't explain it... you know, Piper means a lot to me. She is my best friend. Well, Leo is my best friend... oh skip it, they both are. I couldn't do without any of them, they are both so important to me. With Piper gone... I feel like there's a piece of me missing. She was always there for me in my new life, you know, and she was a great girlfriend. She is really gorgeous, smart, always caring...”  
“But do you love her?”  
And looking into Nico's face, Jason was surprised how easy he found the answer to that.  
“No.” he admitted. “At least not in the way she deserves. I still do, as a friend. I love her to death in this way but...”  
“I understand.”  
“Do you?”  
“Stop sounding so surprised, yes I do. It's what I feel for Will after all.”

By the way Nico bit his lips after the last sentence, Jason knew that this was far more than his friend had originally planned to share. He stayed silent, briefly asking himself why he had always thought that Nico and the son of Apollo were are thing. He knew that Nico had have a short crush on Will after the war, it had been pretty obvious, even to him. Jason knew as well that Will wasn't someone to label his sexuality, and he guessed from the way the Blonde was still looking at Nico that there had been some feelings involved.  
But pressing this topic would be unfair and Nico seemed to have shared enough information, because he stayed silent until Jason spoke again.

“I know it hurt her. But I wouldn't... I hadn't... It was good that she initiated the end because when I am fair to myself, I probably wouldn't have had the guts to do it.”  
Nico looked at him, eyebrows raised so high that they disappeared completely under the black bangs hanging in his face.  
Jason chuckled. “What?”  
“Nothing.” Nico said. “I just didn't thought you'd ever admit being scared of something so trivial.”  
“You call that trivial?”  
“Well, for you. I mean, you are Jason Grace, the golden boy who could get away with anything...”

Jason snorted.  
“You still believe this? Really Nico, you still think this is true after you saw me running against a tree because my glasses were fogged from the hot drink in my hands, which I by the way spoiled over my white shirt? You still believe this after I thought 'Carbonara' was an Italian city? After I fell into the lake while canoeing and nearly drowned because I forgot how to swim? Really?”  
Nico met his gaze, a small smile playing across his lips.   
“Especially since.”

Suddenly Jason felt warm. He didn't know where it came from, maybe an aftermath of Leo's touch? And had his mouth always been this dry?  
He tried to crack a joke. “Stop it. You almost sound like Piper when she tried to cheer me up.”  
Apparently he said something wrong, because the smile fell from Nico's face and he rushed to get up and grabbed his jacket.  
“You should go and clear things up with Leo. He should have calmed down by now.”  
“Yeah” Jason mumbled while wondering what he'd done wrong this time.

 

To be fair, he really didn't want to see Leo right now.  
He wasn't even sure if he wouldn't punch his best friend in the face for being a stupid git the moment he'd face him, but Nico was probably right. To procrastinate this situation wouldn't make anything better. If anything, it would tore a hole in their friendship and Jason didn't want that.  
So he swallowed his own anger and made his way to Bunker 9 when he, deep into thoughts, crashed head first into someone on the forest path.

“Ugh...” groaned Jason, pitying his head for taking so much damage today before searching for the person who had nearly ran him over.  
It was a highly confused Connor Stoll.   
“Sorry” he mumbled, trying to pass Jason who catches him by his arm. “I need to speak to Leo. Is he at the bunker?”  
This seems to confuse Connor even more and he shook his head. “No, he isn't. I am searching for him as well. We had some sort of... argument I guess.”  
“Well, come and join the club. Seems to be Leo's special day. Did he punch your face as well?”  
“What?”  
“Nevermind! Thank you.”

Jason turned and left Connor behind, not even looking back.  
Piper hadn't brought Leo back to the bunker and Jason was sure she would not talk to him in a cabin full of nosy Aphrodite children, so there was only one place she could have taken him.  
He directed his steps to the canoe lake.   
It has always been one of their favourite spots, maybe due to the point that it was where all of them had set the first foot into the camp, even if it was by accident. They often went there for quite talks and Jason could only imagine that Piper decided to do so. He ignored his rumouring stomach, knowing that he would miss breakfast and wanting to punch Leo even more.

He had been right.   
Piper and Leo were sitting at the shore, looking onto the lake. When he stepped nearer, Piper's head turned and she got up.  
“Good thing you're here. He refuses to talk to me about your fight, but I decided to talk some sense into his head anyway” She glared at him. “I don't really know what happened between you and honestly, I don't even care. Get your shit together, both of you.” She threw Leo, who had opened his mouth to protest a nasty look. “I refuse to leave this camp with you two fighting like little brats.”  
And with that she turned and left for the dining pavilion.

Reluctantly, Jason sat down next to Leo.  
Silence fell between both boys, just staring on the water and the waves. They heard a few campers splashing through the water, most likely skipping breakfast to go for an early swim. Jason thought he could make out some voices he knew from Camp Jupiter. It seemed likely. After all, the Romans weren't used to this much of freedom in deciding their own time table.  
Then, as if they had silently agreed on it, both boys mumbled in unison: “Sorry.”

Jason sighed, but it was Leo who began to speak.   
“I was a huge dick.” he run his hand through his messy curls. “I shouldn't have said those... things. I shouldn't have overreacted like this.”  
“'tis okay...” Jason stammered. “I shouldn't have said the thing about Calypso.”  
He watches Leo's face still twitching with a hint of pain at the mention of her name, but the smaller boy shook his head. “No man, thing is, you were right. I made it about Cal and myself. I just thought... I thought...” he trailed off, gaze lowering to the ground.   
Jason had pulled off his shoes, wading in the shallow water and balancing over a few stones, trying to calm his thoughts by doing so.  
“I'm sorry as well. I... I know how it must have looked to you, but I swear on whatever you wish, I just comforted Nico because he had some... problems...” He threw Leo a look that clearly said 'I can't talk to you about it', but the other just shrugged.  
“It's cool. I know it couldn't be true. Di Angelo would never pick such a dork again.”  
“Excuse me?!”  
Leo stuck out his tongue, but a moment later he was back to looking unusually serious.  
“Again, sorry. I know you, Jay. I know you would never hurt Piper. And I know how much you love her, even if not in the way I thought.”  
“Dude, forget it. Also, I must admit, you throw quite a punch.”  
“Maybe you're just getting weak, Grace?”  
“Do not push your luck, Valdez.”

He turned to found a grin spread over Leo's face again and felt that he was glad to have his friend back. However annoying Leo sometimes was, he was still among the best things that had ever happened to Jason, that's for sure.  
He suddenly remembered something he had wanted to ask since the fire user had stood in his door. “Why were you even at my cabin this early?”

“Oh you know” Leo said, while picking up a stone from the riverside to try to skim it over the calm surface of the lake. “Just to talk about a few things.”  
Jason watched took a few steps more into the water, enjoying the cooling effect it had on his feet. “What things?”  
“Nothing important” Leo answered in a quite conversational tone. “Merely the fact that I slept with Connor Stoll tonight.”

It was the second time this year that Jason landed head first in the canoe lake.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes there is nothing better than a good friend to talk to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone ~  
> my finals are approaching with massive speed, but I try to upload the next chapter within the next week. Have fun with this (slightly) smaller chapter.   
> (As always: No beta)

Chapter Twelve 

Leo laughed warmly as he watched his best friend falling into the lake and leaned back on the grass.  
Bless the gods that Jason wasn't someone who holds grudges against people, or else this whole affair hadn't been so easily off the table.  
For now, he was just glad that he had Jason back and a chance to speak about Connor and the whole mess he had navigated himself into.

Cracking jokes had always been Leo's way of coping with problems. 'If you can laugh about something, it can't hurt you anymore' his Mum had used to say, and so Leo had started to laugh simply about everything that could potentially be a threat to his feelings.   
Normally, this was a pretty good way to shield yourself from harm. You still feel it, the pain when someone insults you, the hurt when they told you you're worth nothing, but it doesn't sting so hard and it would go away much faster.  
Sadly, it doesn't work this time.  
Too much had been going on in the past few days, too much information about things that made Leo's head dizzy. He shivered and stared at the bright blue sky above him. Sometimes he just wished he could get Festus and disappear forever.

Jason cursed loudly. Leo felt his best friend's body falling next to him on the grass, lying still. He could hear Jason's breath calming again and grinned.  
“Don't worry. It's pretty warm, so you will be dry in about an hour I guess, maybe even faster. I could help if you want.”  
“No thanks. I am not trusting your hands today after what you did to my face.”  
Silence.   
Leo wasn't sure why Jason wasn't asking him anything. Maybe he thought his misheard what Leo had told him? Maybe he was after all judging Leo. In this case Leo had been wrong about his best friend for a while.  
With a slightly shaking voice Leo decided to break the silence. “Why aren't you saying anything, Jay?”

“Because I am still trying to get over the fact that you accused me of doing something with Nico and get mad because of that, while coming to tell me that you slept with Connor.”  
Leo sighed, turning to his side.   
“I say it again: I am sorry for being a huge hypocrite about the situation. It was just... everything was too much.”  
He watches Jason, whose eyes didn't stop staring into the sky, and wondered if he would really mind if Jason HAD slept with Nico. Not that it was possible, Leo knew that di Angelo would be far too prude to do something like this easily, but aside from the fact that he would be mad at Jay for what this would have done with Piper, he found himself to be strangely okay with the idea.   
Hypothetically of course.  
Jason was so very straight, the only thing that could bend him would be a ton of bricks placed on his shoulders, right?   
“It's fine. So... you wanna tell me about what happened?”

Leo smiled, muttering “Yes”.  
That was the best thing on Jason. He truly believed that talking about your problems would help you, no matter what they are, and therefore he was someone you could always go to if you need someone to listen.  
“I... I woke up next to Connor this morning. Naked.”  
“One can assume that if you had sex.”  
“I was scared and I ran away.”  
Even in his own eyes it sounded pathetic. He should have waited and talked to Connor, Leo knew that, but just the mere thought of looking into his eyes and thinking about what they had possibly done to each other had made him sick.  
Not that he thought Connor was unattractive. No.

Lying in the warm sun Leo thought about Connor's cornflower eyes, his dark brown hair and his crooked smile. He thought about the time they had busied themselves with smearing toothpaste under every available handle they could find (an old but still very satisfying prank).  
Unfortunately for them, the one who finally caught them had been no one else as Clarisse, right after she tried to open the door to the Armoury and found her fingers sticky with a certain dental product.  
Needless to say they ran for their lives.   
Connor had been kind enough to drag Leo along, adjusting to his speed (because Leo could never had catch up with a son of Hermes) but making him run faster at the same time, until both of them had found safe shelter near the cave in the woods.  
They had been laughing, resting their hands at each others shoulder to calm their breath.   
Leo found himself wondering how exactly he remembered every little detail of Connor in this moment, how his hair had been framing his face, full of toothpaste which Clarisse had thrown after him in her rage. How his eyes had that sparkle they only possessed when a prank or a well planned joke had gone right and how they wrinkled at the corners when he grinned at Leo, asking if he was okay.  
No, Connor Stoll was by far too attractive for his own good and he was way out of Leo's league.  
But before this fateful morning, he hadn't thought about Connor that way. Well, not more than once or twice maybe, if he was completely earnest to himself, and never really seriously.   
Because, come on, Connor wasn't into boys and Leo... Leo neither. Not very much at least.

Jason turned to him, lying on his side now and arching a brow.   
“So you woke up after your first time and ran away?”  
“Exactly.”  
“Must have been a very bad thing then...” Jason grinned and Leo pinched his arm.   
“Don't mock me!”

Jason laughed, ruffling Leo's hair. “Don't mind my joking. It's just... well congratulations. So my best friend isn't a virgin anymore.” Leo pinched him again. “Ow... no, really, listen. It's fine. Or do you regret making your move too early? I guess if you hadn't dru...”  
“What do you mean, 'my move'?” Leo asked surprised, searching for his best friend's eyes to see if he was still joking.   
“Well it was your move, wasn't it? You decided to sleep with Connor because you were in love with him?”  
“Wha... I... actually I did not even remember much...” Leo admitted silently, occupying his nervously shaking hands with plucking grass from the ground.

“WHAT?!”  
Jason beside him shot up in the air, staring down at Leo in disbelief. The son of Hephaestus was surprised about his friends harsh reaction.   
“Yeah...” he said. “I don't know what we did and... I am not sure how it was...”  
“Leo...” Jason said, meeting his eyes with a furious gaze. “Just answer me a few questions very, very seriously, will you?”  
Leo nodded confused, bringing himself in a sitting position as well. 

“Did you talk to Connor this morning?”  
“No. I ran away before he was fully awake.”  
“And did you sleep with Connor?”  
Leo remembered how his body ached today, and how he still felt every muscle when he turned from one side to the other. “Yes.”  
“And...” Jason took a deep breath. “...and you don't remember how you got in this situation? How you two ended up in bed? And you didn't... you haven't planned on having sex with Connor anyway?”  
“What? No! I haven't thought of doing something like this with Connor. Why would I?” Leo felt himself blush. “I mean he's cute, yeah, but we never were like... you know...not that I would mind...”  
But Jason doesn't seem to be listening anymore. With a determined look and a “That's it.” he got to his feet, still wet from his unwilling bath in the canoe lake and stormed off the place.   
Leo yelled after him.  
“WHERE ARE YOU GOING, JAY?”

“SKINNING A HERMES SON!”


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason is a tiny bit overprotective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a really fast update.  
> As you can probably see this fanfiction will have sixteen chapters in total. This means, we are approaching the end, 
> 
> Anyways, next Chapter here for you, no beta but a lot of love. Please enjoy <3

Chapter Thirteen

Jason saw red.  
He stormed through the grass, looking like he was about to murder someone (which he probably would) and was well aware of the campers who darted out of his way, sending him nervous glances.

He knew he shouldn't have trusted Connor. Everyone knew you couldn't trust Hermes' spawn, but he never thought the brat would do something like... this.  
Jason didn't care if somebody could hear him. He hit the circle of buildings and headed straight to the Hermes cabin.  
Out of nowhere Nico was standing in his way, blocking his path. Jason barely managed to slow himself down in time, or else he would have simply overrun the boy.  
“Where are you going?” Nico asked, looking almost worried about Jason's face, which was still twisted in rage.  
The older demigod shoved Nico aside. “Not the time to talk, Neeks.”  
“Jason...” he heard Nico running after him, but he didn't care. He jogged up the steps to the Hermes cabin, ripped the door open and stormed into the room.

Connor was there, standing next to his brother, who talked to him in a quite insistently way, still looking as confused as Jason had found him in the woods today. Jason remembered how he had claimed that he had an 'argument' with Leo before and his anger seemed to double. He called that an argument, eh?  
“YOU!”  
Jason crossed the room, passing Cecil who was sitting on a bed reading a magazine. He reached out and grabbed Connor at the collar, yanking him upwards to level their faces.  
“I swear to you if you ever hurt Leo again I...”  
“Listen, Jason...”  
“Let go of him!”  
“JASON!”  
“Oookay... I think I should be going.”

Jason couldn't sort out the voices at once. He heard Cecil throwing away his magazine and his footsteps leaving the room.  
He could see Travis in the corner of his eyes yelling angrily at him and the small, always cold hand who pulled at one of his arms made it clear that one of the voices must have belonged to Nico. But Jason could do nothing than stare into the eyes of his opponent, not quite sure yet if he wanted to punch him in the face...  
“I didn't hurt Leo, I swear”  
...okay, punching it was.  
But before he could throw his fist at Connor's face he felt a jolt of cold passing through his bones and instinctively he let go of the boy, stumbling backwards. Nico still held his arm in a grip, looking at him sternly. “Jason, you need to calm down, do you hear me?”

Only now Jason noticed the flickering light and the noise from the radio, which sounded like an old broken gramophone. Cecil, who still stood in the door, let out a whistle and his eyes wander around. “Wow, that's creepy. Didn't know you could do that. It's like in one of those Supernatural episodes when Cas...” but quick glance from both, Jason and Travis, made him stop mid-sentence and leaving the cabin.  
Nico's voice was still there, speaking into his ear with a calming undertone in it. “Look Jason, whatever happened, you need to calm down. You don't want to get in trouble for this, and may I remind you that your chin already looks broken enough? Come on, whatever it is, talk about it...”  
Jason cut him off with a movement of his hand.  
His eyes were still fixated on Connor.  
“You've got two minutes. Explain.”

The boy looked like a mess, but Jason didn't pity him. His eyes were underlined with shadows and he was pale as he grabbed for his throat and cough.  
Then he straightened himself, looking at Jason when he began to speak. “I didn't know he would react like this, you know?”  
“What? You could not guess that he would be scared? I told you to take care of him, I trusted you!” Jason screamed and he was glad for Nico to still hold his arm.

“No! No” Connor had raised his hands,trying desperately to calm him while backing off a few steps. “No, okay. I didn't lie to you. It wasn't me who did it, it was Travis.”  
Travis just shrugged next to him. “Sorry... I thought it would be fun.”

“Don't lie to me again, Stoll. I know perfectly well that Leo can tell you apart even in the darkness, he hangs around you all the time. And fun? You seriously think this was FUNNY?!”  
“Dude, I didn't know that he would take it all at once.” Travis said, shrugging.  
Jason wasn't sure if Nico was enough to prevent him from strangling both of them. “Stop lying, I know it wasn't you, it was Connor. Leo told me it was him so cut it you lying bastards.”  
“God Grace, I am sorry, okay. I didn't know it would be so hard for him and I said he should spike the punch with it, not drink it all by himself.”  
“What the hell are you talking about?”  
“What the hell are YOU talking about?”  
“I am talking about the fact that your dumb git of brother slept with my best friend!”

“WHAT?” It came from three different voices, Travis, Connors and to Jasons mild surprise, Nicos as well. All of them stared at him, then Nico and Travis both turned their heads to Connor.  
The younger son of Hermes stared back, raising his hands in defence again.  
“No. That...”  
“Don't lie to me, Stoll!”  
“Let me get this straight.” Connor said, sliding a hand through his hair nervously. “Leo thinks that we had sex?”  
“Yeah of course, or could you explain to me otherwise why he had woken up naked next to you this morning?”

“Again,WHAT?” Travis said, turning his head to his brother who slowly grew redder with each passing moment of silence before he mumbled: “That... wasn't... we hadn't...”  
Jason felt like he would loose his temper again, any second. “How could you do this to him? I don't care about you, but he clearly wasn't prepare...”

“STOP!”  
Now it was Connor's time to shout. He was still red, but his whole posture had changed. Within seconds he had straightened himself, looking up to Jason's face with a serious look in his elfish features.  
“Stop it. What do you think of me, Jason? Do you really think I would act so low? That I would take advantage of Leo while he was drunk and... and sleep with him?”  
“But you said...”  
“I was talking about the freaking' alcohol, Jason, and I thought that was what you were talking about. I mean, he was drunk as a skunk when you left him with me at the party and you were accusing me back then until Piper interrupted you, so I thought you were back to asking if it was me who gave him the alcohol. But it was Trav.”

Travis stared at them still wide eyed while nodding. “Yeah. I gave Valdez the alcohol. I... well, let's just say it was too precious to be taken away from me and I was perfectly sure that Mr. D would be suspecting something if he'd see me around the punch. Or Connor. Or Cecil because, let's face it, Cecil is suspicious wherever he is, even if he's just breathing. So I gave it to Valdez. We're friends after all and his pranks had earned our respect. This bottle had cost me a lot of work to pass the border of the camp and I told him so. Hades...” he threw an apologizing look to Nico before continuing “...I couldn't knew he would drink almost all of it alone. Gee. No wonder he completely sloshed.”

“And I didn't know. Well... I knew that Travis had the bottle and I suspected he wanted to cause a bit of trouble with it, but I didn't know he'd give it to Leo. So when you told me has was drunk and when I saw him...”  
“You knew it was Travis and you haven't said a word?”  
“He's my brother.”  
As pissed as Jason was, he understood. He'd never give Thalia away himself, whatever mischief she would have made, and so he nodded.  
“And after that?”

Connor looked down, then up again and shook his had. “I took Leo with me. Half way to his cabin he started setting things on fire accidentally, so I thought it may be better to bring him out to the bunker where he was alone and couldn't hurt someone.”  
“And why were you two naked?”  
“We weren't. Well, he was, but I wasn't. Nevertheless...”  
“Answer my question, Stoll.”

“I can't.” Connor simply stated. “It's none of your business, Grace, and it should only be discussed between me and Leo, especially if he didn't remember. But there is something I can do to reassure you that I haven't done something bad to your mate that he didn't wanted.”  
He met Jason's gaze.  
“I, Connor Stoll, swear on the River Styx that I haven't had sex with Leo Valdez.”

A sharp hissing noise from the door made them all turn in unison.  
Framed by the light that fell into the Hermes cabin was Leo, looking pale and nervous while leaning on the door frame beside him.  
Jason opened his mouth to say something, but a small hand that was pulling onto his own made him stop. Nico's voice was quiet but strict when he spoke. “We should leave.”  
“But...” Jason wanted to argue. He wanted to help his best friend, who looked like he was about to throw up.  
“Connor's right, Jason. It's not your business. Come on...” Nico said, pulling him slightly in direction of the door until he followed. After a questioning look to his brother, Travis trailed behind them.

When they passed Leo at the door, Jason tried to send him an encouraging glance, but the other boys wide eyes were still fixed on Connor and so Jason had no chance than to leave with Nico, hoping that everything would turn out well.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The long overdue talk between Leo and Connor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me quite a while so I guess a lot of you do not expect this story to be updated again. But as I promised I will finish it in the next weeks :)

For a very long time neither of them said a word.   
The silence was almost sickening, the only sound in the room being their breathing and the falling drops of water from the broken sink in the bathroom.  
Then Connor cleared his throat. “How long are you standing there?” he asked, trying to lean against the wall casually but looking so much alert that Leo didn't doubt he could be off and run away within seconds.

He felt his own body shaking as he made his way deeper into the cabin. He had been here so often in the past few month, that it almost felt alien to him that there were so many things lying around. The cabin was a lot bigger than most of the others, probably due to the fact that just two years ago a lot of people were staying here if they were unclaimed by their parents or children of minor gods. Nowadays the room almost felt deserted with all the empty beds and walls. Only in the left corner at the back were the walls decorated with a lot of pictures and posters. It was were Travis and Connor, Cecil and Chris had their beds. Although Chris bed was deserted now, with him moving to New Rome for his studies in Business Administration.   
Today, however, all of the beds were neatly made with fresh bedding and various parts of the floor were filled with makeshift camps. Leo guessed that this was where a lot of guests from New Rome were staying.

“So.” he said, as he stopped a few steps away from Connor, but still far enough to flee if necessary. “You said we didn't... you know...”  
He felt his cheeks heat up and hated himself for it.  
Connor on the other hand seemed to have the same problem. He shook his head. “No...no we haven't.”   
“But why did I feel like... well why did my whole body aches when I woke up? And why were we naked?”  
Connor inspected Leo from head to toe as if he was searching for anything. “You really don't remember, do you?”

“No,” said Leo, now getting impatient. “So please, enlighten me.”  
“You were drunk as hell when I brought you from the party. You drank almost half the bottle of rum Travis had given to you, maybe more, one cannot be sure. While I was dragging, almost carrying you back to your cabin, you decided that it would be helpful to lit a torch for me.   
Well, unfortunately you set your shirt on fire while doing so. “  
Leo cursed himself inside for deciding on a black button up shirt on the day of the party. He did it do impress the ladies, because Piper always stated button up shirts made everyone look more desirable. Looking back now, he may had been better with Calypso's fire resistant clothes.  
“I thought it would be the best to bring you to the bunker, because let's face it, I could not have been sure you wouldn't lit up half of the cabins if going near them.   
You were... let's say not very supportive. Most of the time you were babbling around in Spanish.

We made it through the forest without setting anything else on fire, which was, in my opinion, a huge commitment. When we arrived I wanted to leave, but I promised Grace to look after you and you couldn't even stand straight. So I tried to assist you and guided you to the bed but...”  
Connor let his finger's nervously run through his messy hair.  
“...you vomited right over my clothes.”

 

Leo was positively sure he had never been so embarrassed in his life. Glowing red like a tomato he hid his face in his hands, groaning.  
“It's okay. I... I wasn't mad or something.” Connor said hastily. “I wanted to wash them, I knew you had a washing machine and because you hit your trousers as well I told you to undress so I could toss them in with my stuff...”  
The son of Hermes sighed heavily. “It was my fault. I shouldn't have given the command. Because when I looked up you were...” he gesticulated heavily with his arms and Leo understood.  
Connor looked at him biting his lips. “And then I put you into bed and I... I was so tired. I shouldn't have stayed, Leo, I am really sorry. Of course you must have thought we did something else, especially after you had a massive hangover the other day.”

Leo nodded, slowly wandering to Chris' bed and let himself down on it, sitting on the very end. He knew that Connor wasn't lying but at the same time he knew that this wasn't all.  
He furrowed his brows in concentration.   
Something had happened there, something the other demigod didn't want to tell him. Leo couldn't say why he knew it, maybe his friendship with Piper finally rubbed off on him, but he was sure.  
“Leo?” Connor asked carefully, but the other boy was already lost in his own thoughts, trying hard to remember what had happened the previous night.

 

“'m sorry” he mumbled in shock after he just emptied his stomach all over the boy in front of him.  
Connor just stared, then sighed and pushed him onto the nearest chair. “No problem. It was an accident.”

Leo nodded heavily, but in the same moment felt his head go dizzy from the harsh movement. He stopped, making an disgusted face about the taste in his mouth and spit on the ground again.  
“Do you need to vomit again? Then please say something!” he heard Connor's voice from somewhere behind him and turned his head to where the voice came from.  
Connor threw him an exhausted look before saying.  
“Look, you hit your own trousers Leo. Gods... well, undress so I can toss them with mine into the washing machine.”

In fact, Leo couldn't understand half of his words. Everything was so damn blurry around the edges. He heard the command to undress himself and giggled.  
Funny, he thought while stripping, why does Connor want him to be naked?

Connor however seemed to be slightly shocked when he was standing in front of him, dressed in his boxers. “Gods, Leo, I didn't mean...”  
Leo watched as Connors cheeks got redder and the other boy tried desperately not to look somewhere under his navel.   
He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but couldn't find the words in his foggy mind. Finally he managed to choke out: “Connor, my mouth tastes funny.”

Connor rolled his eyes, pushing him down on the chair again. “Wait a second. And for Zeus' sake, don't move.”  
Leo was sure that Connor had been gone an hour or maybe even two before he returned with a glass of water. Leo had been a good boy all this time, sitting on the chair and observing his own toes, wiggling and laughing about the way they moved. He looked up as Connor pushed the glass in his hand, mumbling “thn'k ou...” while trying to drink something out of hit. On the way to his mouth he managed to spill at least 30% of the water over his own body until Connor's hand helped him guiding the water to his mouth.  
“Please remember me to never ever let anybody give you alcohol again.” the boy said while helping Leo to spit the water into a bucket he held under his nose. “Especially not Travis! Or at least make Travis pay for his own crap and care for you afterwards. You wouldn't have noticed in your state if it's me or him anyway.”

Leo shook his head again. Aargh, headache. “No...” he slurred. “...'s not true. I can tell you apart.” He grabbed Connors head with both of his hand, trying to stop the blurring on the edges of his face while holding him in focus.  
“You look comple... comple... you look different.” He pulled Connor's face nearer. “Your eyes are different. They are like cooooooornflowers.” he giggled. “And they go up when you laugh. And you don't mph...”

He didn't know exactly what happened. Connor's face was gone from his view and instead he saw Connor's closed eyes so very very near while something was pressed against him.   
Leo quickly decided that he liked what was happening and he opened his mouth and pulled Connor nearer, arms sliding around his neck.

 

“You kissed me.” Leo stated, looking up to meet the other boy's eyes again. “You talked to me, you gave me water to rinse out my mouth and then you kissed me.”

Connor winced, crossed his arms protectively over his chest and mumbled. “So you remember?”  
“Yes.”  
“Oh.”  
It was silent while Leo was watching the other demigod's face closely. Connor didn't look at him, his eyes fixated on his own arms. A shiver ran down Leo's spine as he remember the warm feeling he had after waking up next to Connor. How he like the kiss, because even if he had been drunk and confused, he remembered how surprisingly good Connor's lips had felt.  
Leo felt the heat crossed up on his cheeks again. “Why?”, he asked silently.

Connor pushed himself off the wall and started to walk around the room nervously. “I know I shouldn't have, I am truly sorry. I didn't want to take advantage of your situation, I swear, but you were so close and you held me and then you started saying things about my eyes and stuff and... gods Leo...”  
He stopped in front of Leo, looking down on him sitting on the bed and taking a breath before saying.  
“I really really like you, Leo.”

The boy on the bed didn't know what to say. He half expected someone to jump off behind a door or a wardrobe, yelling “April fool!” even if it was August.  
He listened, mouth slightly opened as Connor continued. “I have... I have liked you for a while now, you know? Even before you went of with that girl from the Island.”  
“I didn't know you were...”  
“...Gay? Well, I am. Have known it for a few years, though. I had a crush on Percy when he first came to camp.”  
Leo couldn't help the slightly annoyed tone in his voice. “Why had everybody a freaking crush on Percy?!”  
“Dude, he's hot. Nevertheless, it's not really common knowledge around the campers, because I don't see the point in pointing out things that are private if not strictly necessary. And it hadn't been necessary until now, because with me being single it's not really relevant.” He smiled, sounding somewhat sad. “Although, Travis knows of course. And Lou Ellen, because she asked me on a date a few month ago. I am not a closet case, I am just... picky.”  
“And you choosing me then?” Leo snorted in disbelief.  
“Yeah. Because you're funny and witty. You are easy to talk to, you are intelligent and brave. You are cute without even realizing it and...”  
“Please stop it!”

Connor, still standing in front of Leo, sighed heavily again. “I am sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable around me. I understand that you are not -”  
“You could have just asked, you know?” Leo said, voice barely audible.  
“What?”  
Leo gulped before he repeated himself, eyes fixated on his hand that were busy with undoing and closing the buttons on his jacket. “You could have just asked. For a date I mean.”

He didn't look up as he felt Connor going down on his knees in front of him, apparently searching for his eyes. He heard the tremble in the Hermes son's voice as she spoke.  
“You would have said yes?”  
Only now Leo looked up, meeting Connor's gaze with a mocking look in his own eyes. “Possibly?”

Connor took a deep breath, straightened his back and Leo smirked slightly as he physically felt his opponent preparing for what he was about to ask.  
“So,” Connor started, still seeming unsure of himself. “Would you like to go on a date with me?”  
Leo nodded. “Yes, I think I would like that.”

Connor's face nearly lit up under the huge grin that split his face as he reached forward to take Leo's hand into his own.  
“You know.” the son of Hephaestus started. “Normally, I don't kiss on the first date.” And he watched with amusement as Connor's eyes went wide when he leaned in, whispering “...but I think we could make an exception this time.” before he closed the gap between them.


End file.
